Shadow Or Light?
by adamizgr8
Summary: [DiGata Defenders]  Adam has a strange and eerie dream that bothers him greatly.  Meanwhile, him and the defenders try to find the Pieces Of The Celestial Abyss so that they can defeat the Ethos.
1. The Dream

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter One: The Dream 

It was dark and there was no sign of the moon. There were trees everywhere surrounded by an eerie blue mist that appeared to be glowing slightly. The swamp is quiet, not a creature is stirring. A dark figure is running through the trees, swiftly and smoothly. The figure moves in a straight line, not veering from its path.

He keeps on running and running, driven by panic and fear. All he can hear is the sound of his feet sloshing through the mud, the snapping of twigs, and his haggard breathing. All he can see are trees and the mist. The occasional branch hits his face but he merely just pushes it away. He cannot stop. It is right behind him. He can almost feel its presence. It must not catch up to him. Suddenly he loses his footing and falls into the mud. He just lies there for a while; he's exhausted and out of wind. He gets up on his knees and looks behind him; a white glow is seen slowly moving through the trees heading towards him. Terror grips his heart and he jumps up to his feet and starts running again. All he sees are trees, there seems to be no end to them; when suddenly he comes across a clearing. The sudden light of the moon momentarily blinds him; he shields his eyes with his right arm and continues to run. His feet finds no ground and he tumbles down a ravine.

Adam groans as he gets up from the ground. He is sore from the fall and exhausted from the running. He checks his surroundings and sees that there is no way out of the ravine. The sides are too steep and the mud is too slippery. Remembering his pursuer, Adam looks up and is glad to only see the moon and the night sky. His relief is short-lived, however, as he notices a shadow appear in the moon. He squints his eyes, hoping he can make it out. The dark shadow gets closer and shapes itself into a giant black hand reaching out for him. Adam's eyes widen and he backs away from the hand until his back hits the side of the ravine. He lets himself slide to the ground, cowering and shaking in fear. The hand is mere inches from Adam when a bright white ball of light comes flying down and gets between them forcing the hand back. It hovers there for a moment and then starts circling the hand. A small trail of light is tailing the ball and tightens itself around the hand dispersing the darkness and destroying the hand. The ball floats over to Adam, whose eyes open even wider and face becomes deathly pale. "No" he whispers. The ball of light comes closer. "No." The ball of light glows brighter encasing Adam in a white light. He raises his left arm over his head and looks away as he screams "nooooooooooo!"

Adam bolts out of his sleeping bag, his face pale and his breath shallow. He is sweating and his grip on his sheets are iron tight. Adam calms himself down while muttering "it's just a dream Adam. A creepy, scary dream that seems to be too real for comfort… Okay, you need to stop this. There is nothing to worry about… except maybe what that light was trying to show you…. No. No. Don't think about it." Adam turned to the other defenders: Kara, Erik, Mel and the new kid, Rion, were sleeping peacefully in their sleeping bags while Seth was sprawled out on his like it was him that was being restless. _I wish_, thought Adam, _that would make things so much easier for me_. He lies back down and closes his eyes but the dream still plagues him. _I can understand why I was afraid of the hand, anyone would be, but why was I afraid of the light? What was it trying to show me_? The sight of the ball of light was clear in his head, as clear as his dream. He remembered that when it was getting closer to him that a strange symbol of some sort was attempting to form on it. What _was that symbol? Why do I fear to see it? What does this all mean_? Before he can contemplate more, fatigue overtakes him and he falls back to sleep. He dreams no more that night.


	2. The Morning After

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Two: The Morning After  


It was a magnificent morning. The morning dew sparkled in the sun creating the illusion of a thousand gems on the ground and trees, while the birds greeted the day with their sweet songs. However, in the clearing that the defenders had chosen to sleep, the birds' songs were absent or else were drowned by Seth's snoring. One of the two.

Adam woke up and slowly got up from his sleeping bag. He felt like he had just ran halfway across Rados while carrying a Dakowolf on his back. _A good night rest? I seem to been denied it_. He looked around with weary eyes to check on the other defenders.

Seth was still snoring away on his sleeping bag, Mel was putting away hers, Erik was fiddling with his Stormer, Kara was bothering or helping Erik(who knows which one), and Rion… well, Rion was nowhere to be seen. He spotted his bag and reached for it, hoping to find some grub cakes. Just before he could reach it, he stopped, his eyes opening wide. He couldn't believe it; his hand was shaking. He quickly snatched his hand away and looked closely at both of them. They were shaking, just slightly, but still shaking. _Why are they shaking? Are they cold? They don't feel cold. Am I scared? Why would I be scared_? He tried to think of reasons to be scared but all he drew was a blank. An uneasy feeling began to build in him and he suddenly decided that he wasn't hungry and needed to be alone.

Adam's sudden departure went unnoticed by everyone except Mel. After she had finished putting away her sleeping bag, she had looked in his direction. She had been curious over why Adam was looking at his hands and was surprised when he suddenly and silently left the clearing. She decided it was best to follow him, just to make certain that everything was okay.

* * *

After he had slipped out of the campsite, Adam had begun running into the woods. He ran until he came across a small pond and immediately kneeled down to look at his reflection. He was not the least bit pleased with what he saw: his face was as pale as a ghost and his eyes looked frightened. A closer look revealed that it wasn't only his hands that were shaking, it was his whole body. _Something has scared me. Scared me good. But what_? He dipped his hands in the water and started to splash some water into his face. _Hopefully this will calm me down_. He was relieved when he saw that his face was regaining its color and that the shaking had ceased. The uneasy feeling had also vanished and was almost a distant memory.

"Adam, are you alright?"

Adam bolted up and turned around to see a very concerned Mel behind him. "Mel… it's great to see you. What brings you out here? Why aren't you at the campsite?"

"I was worried about you. Are you alright? Why did you run away?" She looked at him directly in the eyes, pleading for an answer.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I… um… just needed some exercise and… well, when I came across this pond so I decided that I wanted a drink." Water dripped off his chin as he smiled and said "I guess I'm a little messy. Going to have to work on my eating habits or my drinking habits, at least."

Mel couldn't help but giggle at that, although she suspected that Adam was lying to her.

"Thanks for um…. worrying about me. You really didn't have to," said Adam as he started to walk over to her.

"Oh, it was nothing really. I was just doing what comes naturally to me, I guess." She placed her hands on her cheeks while smiling profusely and acting coy.

A small blush appeared on her cheeks when Adam got **very** close to her and said "it's not nothing. It means a lot to me, especially that it's coming from you." He held her wrists with his hands, give her a dashing smile and looked right into her eyes.

They look at each other with dreamy eyes as they get closer… closer…. closer….

"Aiyeeeee!"

They both bolt away in shock and looked in the direction of the camp. Adam is the first to speak; "What was that?"

"I recognize that scream anywhere, its Erik's! The others must be in trouble!" Mel cried as she ran towards the campsite with Adam right behind her. With their stones ready to cast they both burst into the clearing only to find...

* * *

"A spider? This was all about a spider? I can't believe you. What kind of man are you?"

"I'm sorry, Adam" said Erik as he watched Adam pace back and forth. "It's just that I really don't like spiders. I mean they have all those creepy little eyes and those gross little legs and let's not forget those icky webs they make and…."

"But still," said Adam as he stopped and faced Erik, "it's just a tiny little harmless spider. You scared Mel and I half to death with your girly scream and for what? A tiny spider crawling on your sleeping bag?"

"Hey, that's not fair" huffed Erik, who was a little miffed about the comment about his scream being 'girly.' "I wasn't expecting it to be there; it caught me off guard, that's all."

"Don't be silly, big brother" giggled Kara, "you screamed because you're afraid of spiders. Especially the itty bitty nasty spiders that crawl on your sleeping bag."

Erik's face became flushed as Kara and Mel laughed hysterically but he quickly regained composure and walked over to his sister. "I am not afraid of spiders" he huffed as he glared down at her.

"Yes you are," she shot back.

"Not I'm not!" "Yes you are!" "Am not!" "Are too!" "Am not!" "Are too!" "Am not!" "Are too!"

"Relax guys, relax" said Mel as she stepped in between the two. "Everyone's afraid of something, right Adam?"

"Ummm… yeah" he muttered as the uneasy feeling started to build in him again.

"Oh reeeeally?" Kara grinned mischievously as she chirped. "What are you afraid of Adam?"

Adam stiffened as small flashes of the dream the other night came back to him. "Nothing!" he snapped. He cursed at himself for snapping at Kara knowing that nothing good could come out of it. He really hadn't meant to snap at her but the morning surprises had upset him and he was still mad at Erik for ruining the moment that he was having with Mel.

"Hey," growled Erik, "there was no need to snap at her." He stomped over to Adam and gave him a small shove. "She asked you a simple question, not to yell at her. Now… what are you afraid of, Adam?" He crossed his arms and gave Adam a glare that showed that he wanted an answer.

"What am I afraid of?" he whispered. Suddenly, he remembered the whole dream; shadow hand, ball of light and all. He felt himself involuntarily shudder and was grateful that it wasn't visible. "Nothing," he uttered as he turned away from the others. He rested his left hand on his right shoulder as he whispered "nothing that I understand."

"Hey," snapped Erik, "don't give me this nonsense. I want an answer." He was still really angry at Adam, but now he was a little concerned. He had seen the look of surprise and fear on Adam's face. He had also heard him mutter something, although he couldn't quite make it out, and wanted to know what was wrong. He placed his hand on Adam's free shoulder but Adam swiftly knocked it away while turning around to face him.

"I'm not giving you nonsense! I'm not telling you anything because there's nothing to tell!" Adam inwardly cringed as his words and his rashness. _I shouldn't let that dream get to me. Not like this. Although, I suppose it's more my pride that's the problem right now_. He looked straight into Erik's angry eyes and felt anger start to overtake him again. "You know, Erik, you're more than just a little coward. You're a Dako brained Yin Yanner with Nega lumps whose is probably afraid of his own shadow."

"Why you slime-sucking rotten Infinis scumbag… I oughta…"

"You oughta what? Hide behind one of your friends? Maybe your little sister?"

"Hey! Don't talk about my big brother like that!"

"Umm… guys, maybe you should calm down before you say something you might regret."

"You're right Mel," Adam said as he smiled warmly at her. _Thank goodness for clear heads. Almost completely lost it there. I think I may have gone too far though but I've got to try and pick up the pieces_. "We're letting our tempers get the best of us and we should calm down before we say some…"

"So you're backing down," snarled Erik. "Can't expect anything less from a slimy spineless scoundrel…"

"Erik, calm down."

"…who would have the nerve to betray us twice…"

"Erik, calm down!"

"…and hand over my sister to Nazmul for a host."

"Sorry about that, but it was a trick to…"

"Shut up! You're a betrayer and you can't be trusted anymore than…"

"Erik! Stop!"

"…than Brackus himself!" Filled with rage, Erik punched Adam in the stomach, hard.

"I suppose I may have deserved that," groaned Adam as he slid to the ground. "But certainly not for the actually reasons you punched me. I need some time alone. See ya guys later." Adam put on a fake smile as he got up and walked off while clutching his stomach. _Okay, I was expecting the anger and maybe some insults but I certainly wasn't expecting the punch. Especially one that actually hurts_.

Adam walked right by Seth who had just returned from his morning snack in the woods. "Hey Adam" he greeted, only to be ignored rudely. _What's his problem_? He then turned to the others and saw that they seemed concerned, even Erik who had calmed down immediately after his outburst. "Did I miss something? And where's Rion?"


	3. The Talk

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Three: The Talk  


After sulking in the woods for a few minutes, Adam came across a clearing with a big flat rock in the middle. He sat on the rock as he let out a big sigh. He really regretted everything he said to Erik but he wasn't certain how he should apologize.

_Should I just walk right up to him and say I'm sorry or should I let him approach me first? I don't want to explain anything, especially the dream, but I'm certain the others are going to want to know everything_. Adam let out another sigh and closed his eyes.

"Having troubles?"

Adam opened his eyes and saw Rion standing right in front of him. "Yeah," he replied, "but nothing I can't handle." _I hope_. "Just had a little argument with Erik."

"Really?" said Rion as he sat right beside him, "It seemed pretty bad to me. But then again, maybe it's just me."

A shocked Adam turned to Rion and said "you saw it? Where were you?" _Was he spying on us? Don't be ridiculous Adam; he has no reason to spy_.

Rion smiled and said "I was in the woods at the very edge of the clearing. I was out for a morning walk thinking about what Tzur had said about the Ethos and such. Anyway, when I heard the scream, I quickly ran back expecting the worst. I knew everything must have been alright when I saw Seth walking calmly away from the campsite talking about Erik, spiders and fruit trees. Curiosity got the better of me and I snuck up to the edge of the clearing just in time to see you and Mel jump into the clearing. Well, you know the rest of the story."

Rion's smile disappeared and he gave Adam a serious look. "What's wrong? You seemed to be… edgy when you fought with Erik. Is something bothering you? You can tell me. I won't tell the others, I promise." He closed his eyes and smiled the biggest smile that Adam had ever seen.

"It's nothing really, just a bad dream."

Rion's smile quickly turned into a frown as he said "a bad dream? Just how bad was it? What happened in the dream?"

"I rather not talk about. I mean, I just want to forget about it. It was just a meaningless dream." _I hope_. "It's nothing to worry about but… could you not tell the others? I don't want them to think that I let small things, like bad dreams, get the better of me."

He noticed that Rion didn't look convinced, so he smiled and said "I promise, if the dreams start getting out of hand, I will tell you and the others. But I assure you that they won't and everything will be fine. I won't even remember the dream tomorrow I bet. So everything's okay, okay?"

"Okay, if you say so, but I think we should head back to the others. They are probably worried sick about us."

Adam nodded his head and they both slid off the rocks and began to walk back to the campsite. Adam, however, stopped for a moment and scanned the trees behind him.

Rion had noticed and asked over his shoulder "something wrong Adam?"

"No, no. I thought I heard something but it just must have been my mind playing tricks on me." He smiled as he turned back to Rion. "Come on, I beat everyone's giving Erik a hard time for the argument we had. Let's go back and allow them to give me a hard time for the argument."

Shortly after the two left the clearing, Zad's head pop out from one of the bushes and he glared at the spot where the two had disappeared from view. He had a job to do and he was going to do it. He just had to wait for the right moment.

* * *

"Really? You said that to him? That is awesome!" Mel and Kara glared at Seth as he laughed while Erik looked very confused. "I wish I had seen his face when you said that. I wish I had seen his face when you punched him. It must have been classic. Man, I've got to call him that later just to see his face." He looked at the others before putting a serious face on and saying "but I suppose it isn't good to argue amongst ourselves. You and Adam will have to apologize to each other, when Adam feels mature enough to."

"When I'm feeling mature enough, huh? Well, I guess I'm feeling mature right now so let's exchange apologies." The defenders turned around to see Rion coming out of the woods with Adam right behind him.

Adam walked up to Erik and extended out his hand. "Sorry about before, I was just having a bad morning and I took it out on you. Forgive me?"

He smiled as Erik shook his hand and said "apology accepted. I'm sorry about all the stuff I said, I didn't mean any of it…"

"I know. There's no need for you to explain. It was just a bad moment for both of us that should be forgotten."

"Saaay Rion," said Seth, "were have you been?"

"I went out for a morning walk."

"So early?"

"Well, not everybody wants to sleep the day away like you Seth."

"Now, now, Kara. That's just not fair…"

"Um Adam?" Erik steered Adam away from the others as he gave him a serious look. "Was something bothering you? You seemed pretty scared back then. I'm just..."

Adam rose up his hand to Erik and said "stop, Erik. I don't want to talk about it. Could you just drop it?" He noticed that Erik was starting to get annoyed, so he said "please? I really, really don't want to talk about it. I want to forget that the argument took place and I want everything to be normal between us, okay?"

"Um… okay."

"Oh, by the way, did you really have to compare me to Brackus? I would have preferred anyone else, even Nazmul. You know, because of what all happened between me and Brackus."

"Yeah, okay. Next time I'm mad at you, I won't compare you to Brackus. I promise."

"Okay you guys" said Seth. "It's time for us to pack up and get going. We have a long ways to go and a world to save. Let's move out!"

The defenders quickly went over to their sleeping bags to put them away. Mel, however, stopped and looked around her nervously. _It feels like we're being watched_.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a pitch black room, a shadowy figure is bent over the only source of light, a dark glowing orb. His fingers move about on the orb as he receives various points of view of the defenders. He removes his hands and the orb shows a view of the defenders getting on their Stormers. "What fools they are" he says in a low voice. "All of them. Do they truly think that it's going to be easy? The Defenders will fail and the Ethos will succeed. Surely they see that." The orb then shows Zad taking cover in the trees, bent down with squinted eyes. "Foolish Zad. Do you hope to succeed? You will fail and I will succeed. The Ethos will finally see you as the worthless creature you are and turn to me for help. Go on with your silly plan; I have my own to follow. In fact, it's almost time for me to make my first move. The Defenders are going to be in for a big surprise. A big surprise indeed." He turns his back on the orb and everything goes dark. 


	4. The Problems Begin

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Four: The Problems Begin  


_This is bad, very bad. I keep having that dream over and over again and it's starting to affect me. It stops me from having a good night's sleep and the uneasy feeling is getting worse and worse_.

"Ummm… Adam?"

_What is going on? Why does the dream repeat itself? Is it trying to tell me something_?

"Adam?"

_What is it trying to tell me? Am I in some sort of danger_?

"Adam!"

_Who or what is the hand? Should I be afraid of the light, or what it's trying to show me_?

"Adam, snap out of it!"

_Is there a way for me to avoid it? Should I try to avoid it? What would happen to…_

"Adam! For the love of Altas, hang on to me!"

"Huh, what?" Adam shook his head to clear his thoughts as he began to take in his surroundings. He was riding behind Mel on her Stormer and his grip on her waist was very loose. "Oh, sorry. I guess my mind was wandering but no harm no foul, right?" He smiled as he looked to his left but what he saw made his eyes bulge and his mouth to open wide in shock. "A cliff? For the love of Altas, what are we doing at the edge of a cliff? I could have fallen over."

"Yeah, we know" says Seth from upfront, "that's why Mel was trying to get your attention. You should really pay more attention to your surroundings, Adam."

"Okay, okay, I get it," said Adam. "But seriously, what are we doing riding on a narrow path along the edge of a cliff? It's dangerous."

"Well," began Seth, "if you have been paying any attention at all you would know the answer to that question. We needed to get to the secret place that Tzur mentioned as quickly as possible and we discovered that this narrow and dangerous path is a shortcut. We discussed it and most of us agreed to take it. It took some talking to convinced Erik. I, I mean we decided that your silence was in agreement, so here we are."

"You know, Adam" spoke Kara, "the next time you want to zone out, you should probably make certain we're not on the move. For your own protection."

"What is with you Adam? You've been out of it since you woke up."

"I don't think now is a good time to talk about it, Erik. Maybe later" said Adam as he tighten his grip on Mel's waist.

"You're right, Adam" said Mel "but no more going into Lala Land until after we reach the end of the path, okay? I really hate to lose you…I mean, we wouldn't want to lose you because you are an essential part of the team. I mean, you're a defender like us and we have to stick together and…"

"Don't worry Mel, I know **exactly** what you mean. I won't allow myself to get distracted again during the rest of the ride. I promise."

Adam felt someone staring at him and peeked behind him to see Rion glaring at him from behind Kara's back. _Oh boy_, he thought, _Rion is so going to chew me out for sure. He's probably knows the dream is at fault and demand to know more about it. The others are also going to want to know what's going on and I'm certain that Rion is going to make things appear worse then they really are. Note to self: avoid Rion at all costs_.

He sighed and stared out at the bleak jagged rocks that surrounded them. Cold and distant, with no hint of warmth. It only added fuel to his despair and increased the uneasiness building inside.

* * *

That night, the defenders set up camp in a strange circle formation of stones that they found in the rocky terrain. The only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and all eyes were on Adam.

Adam was seating on one of the smaller rocks with his feet drawn to him and his arms around his legs. He found the place depressing and the clouds covering the moon didn't help. He stared into the fire, occasionally glancing at the others. Mel and Kara were looking at him with a concerned look, Erik looked dumbfounded, and Seth and Rion were glaring at him; Rion's glare being more intense than Seth's. He sighed, bowed his head and closed his eyes as he waited for one of them to approach them. _I wish that this was a forest instead. Then I could sneak off into the woods to hide without it being too obvious that I'm trying to avoid them. Can't exactly go and hide behind one of these rocks without setting off any alarms_. He could hear the soft crunch of someone approaching and prepared himself for the inevitable interrogation.

"Adam? Do you want something to drink?"

He looked up as he open his eyes to see Mel standing in front of him holding a cup out to him. "Um, sure" he said as he reached for the cup, "I am feeling a little parched."

Their fingers touched and for just a moment, all time seemed to stand time. Adam and Mel couldn't help but smile at the contact and Adam could have sworn he saw Seth tense up in the corner of his eye. _Must have imagined it_. Adam slowly moved the cup towards him as Mel slowly returned her hand to her side. Adam then noticed that Kara was smiling like a cat that just caught a bird and that Mel was blushing slightly.

"Ummm.." began the embarrassed Mel, "maybe you should also get something to eat. You haven't eaten at all today. The stew is almost ready and we still have some grub cakes."

"Don't worry, Mel, I'll have some stew when it's ready." Adam looked down at the ground again before looking straight into Mel's eyes and saying "I'm really sorry for making you guys worry like that. It's just that something has been bothering me lately and, well, I had let it get to me. I'll be okay, I promise."

"Exactly what is bothering you Adam?" Seth gruffly asked. "Is it something we should be worried about?"

"Oh, no, no, no," said Adam as he turned to Seth. "It's nothing that you guys have to worry about. I can handle it on my own. We'll just pretend that the cliff incident didn't happen, okay?" He turned to Mel, smiled and said "don't worry about me, Mel. I can, after all, take care of myself. I really hate to see a beautiful girl like you worry about a guy like me." He smiled as he saw her blush return and whispered "I really care about you Mel. You mean more to me than anything in the world. I don't know what I would do without you."

Mel blushed even more as the two looked right into each other's eyes and…

"If it's nothing to worry about," said Seth as he came in between the two, "then why did it occupy your mind so much? Not that it would take much to occupy that small mind of yours."

"Look, Seth" said Adam irritably, "there's no reason for **you** to be concern about me, okay? I can take care of myself."

"The stew is ready everyone" cried out Kara, "come and get it. Especially you Adam."

Adam slid off the rock and shouldered his way past Seth.

"Hey" yelled out Seth, "you haven't answered my question yet!"

"Yeah, I know," said Adam over his shoulder, "I know."

Irritated beyond his belief, Seth turned his back on Adam and noticed Adam's cup on the rock. Peering inside, he noticed that the drink had been untouched. _I thought he said he was parched_.

* * *

Seth glared at Adam from the other side of the fire as he laughed and joked with the others. Nothing was adding up. After noticing the cup, Seth had grabbed and gave it roughly to Adam which he had accepted with a grin. He had been watching Adam closely after that and notice that he still hadn't drank from it. _Not only that, but he hasn't eaten any stew yet either_. Seth looked at the bowl, which still contained the small amount of stew that Adam had grabbed for himself. All of the other defenders had seemed to be too caught up in the 'merriment' to notice how little he had taken and that he hadn't taken more. _All except for maybe Rion_. Seth's eyes moved momentarily to Rion who was looking suspiciously at Adam, like he was aware that something was wrong. _I'm going to have to talk to him later. He might know more about what's going on than me_.

* * *

"We need to talk Adam."

Adam put on an uneasy grin as he turned around to face Rion. Mel, Kara, Erik and Seth were already sleeping peacefully in their sleeping bags. He had been lucky that he had been able to ease their fears so that they would stop worrying about him but Rion had not fallen for his act. "Sure, what about? If it's about the dream, then everything's okay."

"Everything is not okay" said Rion, "and I think the dream does have something to do with it. How many times have you had it? And don't you dare think of lying to me."

"Lying to you? Who's lying to you? I haven't been lying to you."

"Oh, really? I believe that you promise me that you would tell me if something was wrong."

"Actually, I believe I promised you that I would tell you if my dreams were getting out of the hand and they're not." _Yet_.

"Are you saying that your dreams are not out of hand? You were zoned out all morning and you could have fallen off a cliff because of it. Are you saying that makes everything perfectly fine?"

_Okay, he's got a point there. I've got to say something to get him off my case. Think, Adam, think_. "Um... I'm sorry about not telling you before, but I've had the same dream over and over again. And, well, it is starting to affect me." When he saw that Rion was going to say something, he put his hand up and said "stop. There's no point in getting all worked up about it. Neither one of us can do anything about the dream. We can't control my dream and we cannot stop it. It will eventually go away and everything will return to normal." _I hope_.

"What happened in your dream?"

"I don't want to talk about that, okay? It doesn't concern you anyway and…"

"Doesn't concern me? Would I be talking to you about it if it didn't concern me?"

"Okay, bad choice of words, but I still stand on my ground. This is my dream and nothing you do will stop it. I have to deal with it on my own. I will find a way to deal with it. But… if you want to offer me comfort, or anything like that, I will gladly take it." Adam smiled when he say that Rion seemed somewhat satisfied with that. "Oh, by the way," said Adam as he headed to his sleeping bag. "Could you please not tell the others."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I just don't want to worry them that's all. They have enough things to worry about, plus I can take care of myself."

"Well… okay, if you say so."

"Thanks, Rion. Goodnight." With that, Adam slipped into his sleeping bag and immediately fell asleep.

"For a guy having nightmares, he sure falls asleep easily, doesn't he?"

Rion turned around in surprise to see Seth crawling out of his sleeping bag. "You're awake?"

"I was awake the whole time."

"So you heard everything?"

"Yep. But I still didn't hear enough. He shouldn't keep secrets from us."

"We all have our secrets to keep."

"Yeah, well, some things shouldn't be kept secret. But, he's right about one thing: there's really no need to inform the others, especially Mel."

"Why especially Mel?"

"She worries about him too much already. I mean, there's nothing wrong with her worrying about him but she thinks of him way too much and she should be thinking about other things like… like…" He scratched the back of his head and said "could you forget that I said anything? Please?"

"Sure, Seth, sure." Rion yawned and slipped into his sleeping bag. "Goodnight Seth."

"Goodnight Rion."

* * *

The clouds shifted, allowing the moon a peek at the defenders. They slept soundly, unaware of the troubles that lurked in the shadow. The moon's rays lightly touched a shadowy figure who was hiding behind a huge rock a few yards away from the campsite. Zad poked his head out and watched as the moon once again hid behind the clouds. It was almost time; he could hardly wait.


	5. The Drevac Stronghold

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Five: The Drevac Stronghold  


"Well, here we are" declared Seth, "the um… er… secret place we're suppose to be. Does anyone remember what it was called?"

"I believe Tzur said that it was called the Drevac Stronghold" said Rion as he jumped off Kara's Stormer. "He said that we would find it here."

"Looks cozy" said Adam as he took off his helmet. He scanned the black castle with its dark spires and its twisting and decaying stairs. There were some holes along the walls and dead vines were everywhere. He noticed that some of the spires had toppled over and that the path leading to the castle had cracks with weird weeds growing out of them and had jagged rocks at the edges. Whatever was still standing and not covered in dead vines was covered in a bright green moss that appeared to be glowing. Lightning flashed in the sky and thunder echoed in the barren plain.

"Looks like a nasty storm is coming" said Mel, "we should take shelter in the castle."

"Take shelter in the castle? Are you kidding? It looks like its ready to fall down any moment."

"Don't be such a chicken big brother. I think staying in the castle will be fun."

"Fun? You have got to be kidding me. There's no way I'm going…"

"We have to go in there anyway, Erik" said Seth. "So we may as well go in there now. We'll probably have to spend the night here too, so no complaining. Come on, let's go inside."

Rain started falling from the sky, hard, so the defenders quickly ran into the castle through one of the holes in the walls. Despite how rough the castle looked from the outside, the inside was in pretty good shape. Apart from dust and a fallen chandelier, everything was in perfect condition.

"How can the inside be such good condition when the outside is in such disarray?" asked Erik. "It doesn't make any sense."

"My guess is that damage on the outside was probably mostly caused by the elements."

"Could be possible but there's no time to think about that" said Seth. "We have to find that machine that Tzur said would reconfigure the Key so that it will point to the locations of the pieces of the Celestial Abyss instead of Pure Stones. Can anyone remember where Tzur said it would be?"

"He didn't know" said Rion as he stepped towards a faded painting of a pretty young lady. "No one knows. The Drevac Clan were very secretive and only told the Wizards Of Yan that they would keep the machine in their castle. They didn't even want to give the location of their castle to them. I don't understand why they have the machine when they didn't have anything to do with the Ethos."

"They must have played some part, otherwise, why give them the machine?"

"Who knows if they played a part or not" said Seth as he dropped his bag. "We'll leave our stuff here and split into groups of two. We'll be able to cover more ground that way. Kara, you're going with Erik; Mel you're going with…"

"Me" said Adam as he slipped beside her.

"Sorry Adam but Mel is going with Rion."

"With Rion? Then that means that I'm going with…. you."

"Yeah, well I know how much you're looking forward to spending more time with me. Plus, I'm certain that nothing will get done if you go with Mel, so you're with me."

"Sigh, very well then. I'm ready to follow you, oh fearless leader."

"Glad to hear it, now let's move out." Everyone nodded and the three groups went their separate ways.

* * *

Adam and Seth were walking down a long corridor that had several faded paintings hanging on the wall as well as the occasional patches of yellow moss.

"Adam we need to talk."

"We never really need to talk, it just something that we occasionally want to do."

"No, really Adam, we need to talk."

"We're talking now, aren't we? Or has the definition of talk changed since I last used it?"

"I'm serious about this Adam. I've been noticing you lately…"

"Well, I'm hardly invisible."

Seth clenched his teeth and growled "I've noticed that you've been unnerved the last few days and have been distracted lately. I've also noticed that you haven't eaten at all in the last two days. Granted, I'm happy you drank some water this morning but you didn't seem to drink too much."

"I think" said an annoyed Adam "that you are mistaken. I had some of the stew last…"

"You didn't. I saw you."

"You must have been imaging things. I most definitely ate some. Or maybe you just missed it."

"I missed nothing. I watched you very carefully; you ate nothing."

"What are you now? A stalker? Don't you have better things than do than watch me eat? I don't need a babysitter. Or maybe, you just still don't trust me."

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I'm concerned about y… Mel! I'm concern about Mel because she's concern about you which makes me concern about you but only because I'm concerned about Mel. Do you understand?"

"Ummm… I guess. Just so that you… and Mel know, there's nothing to be concerned about. Everything's fine."

"What about the dream? Are you fine with that?"

"What? How? When? Why? Did Rion tell you about it?"

"Oh, no, no, no. I listened in on your conversation with him and…."

"You were eavesdropping! I thought you were asleep!"

"I was only pretending to be asleep. I must have done a pretty good job to fool you and Rion."

"Now that I think about, there were a few things that wasn't right about you last night. One, you weren't snoring as loud as you usually do and two, you were lying perfectly still. I should have realized you weren't asleep. How stupid of me to ignore the facts."

"Yeah, it was stupid of you but let's talk about this dream. I want to know everything."

"Ain't going to happen, Seth, so could you just drop it? As I told Rion, this is for me to handle and for me alone."

"I don't think…"

"Finally, you admit to it! And don't deny it Seth, you admitted to it."

"Okay, okay, I stepped right into that one. But just you wait. You're going to walk into another one and I'll be ready for you."

"You better be, Seth, you better be."

* * *

"I'm worried about Adam, Rion. I don't know what it is, but something just doesn't feel right. There has to be something bothering him, I just know it. I just wish that he would tell me what was wrong."

Rion stared at Mel's back as they searched an old storage room that had empty barrels and cloth-covered furniture. "I'm certain everything's fine, Mel. But the whole point of Adam going with Seth was so that he wouldn't distract you. It doesn't seem to be helping. Apparently he can distract you from anywhere and anytime."

Mel blushed as she said "I'm not distracted, I'm just worried about him. What if something happens to him?"

"Seth is with him, I hardly doubt that anything will happen to him."

"I suppose you're right but I can't seem to shake the feeling that something is wrong with him."

"Everything's probably okay. I'm certain that if there was anything wrong, Adam would have told us." _Or at least I wish that he would tell us. I don't like lying to Mel but I did promise I wasn't going to tell anyone about the dreams and I keep my promises. On the other hand though, Adam didn't keep his promise to me and I actually don't know much myself. Plus, she seems really worried about him and it's unfair to leave her in the dark. Should I tell her? Or should I not_?

Mel turned to Rion and saw that there was a concerned and thoughtful look on his face. This filled her with anxiety and annoyance. _What's going on? Does he know something I don't? Does it have something to do with Adam? Why didn't he say something to me_? "Do you know something, Rion?"

"Me? Know what? What are you talking about Mel? I don't know anything." _Yet_.

Mel walked over to Rion with a smile that made Rion feel uneasy… "You don't know anything? Are you certain about that?"

* * *

"Why are there so many doors here?"

"Come on sis, each door holds a new possibility to it." Erik smiled as she opened another door in the long corridor that Kara and him were in. His smile turned to a frown as he and Kara looked into an empty room.

"Another room with nothing. Wow, this so much fun."

"Well, that's ten doors down and…" Erik squinted as he looked down the corridor, "and about, I don't know, a dozen more to go. Come on, the device has to be behind one of these doors."

"What does this thing look like anyway?"

"Well, it could be a big machine or a small one. It could have several wires coming out of it or none at all. It could be a complicated machine or it could be simple. It could…"

"In other words, we don't have a clue what it looks like. Greaat. Just how are we suppose to recognize this thing anyway."

"I'm certain that we'll recognize it when we see it. I mean, a device that can reconfigure the Key to find the pieces of the Celestial Abyss has got to stand out, right? Especially if you consider the fact that we haven't stumbled across a single piece of technology yet. It must be the only device in here." He opened another door to once again find nothing.

"Yeah, if it's still here" Kara said as she peeked down another corridor.

"Don't say that Kara. We have to think positive otherwise…"

"Hey Erik! Come and look at this!"

Erik turned to his sister to see that she was pointing down the corridor with a big smile on her face. He walked down to her and glanced down it as well.

"What do you think of that? Do you think the device might be in there?"

Erik's eyes opened wide at the sight before him. The corridor opened up to a big room with a beautiful fountain in the middle and crumbling statues along the wall. Standing behind the fountain was a big wooden door that stood up to 15 feet and had some great decorative designs. "I think it might."

They walked up to the door and saw that there was a figure in militaristic clothing on each door as well as some sort of green and white vines design along the edges of the doors. There were even some red flowers on the design and the two figures had swords drawn whose points met in the center of the door.

"If it's not here, I don't where it would be. Robonus, activate!" The tiny version of Robonus came out and stood at attention.

"V-Moth, take flight!" V-Moth appeared right beside Robonus, awaiting her orders.

"Robonus, go and find the others and lead them here. I think we found it."

"You too, V-Moth!"

The two guardians left as the two siblings once again turn to the doors.

"Well, let's see if we're right" said Erik as he grabbed a handle and pulled. Nothing. "The door's stuck, it won't open."

* * *

"I can't believe this!" screeched out an outraged Mel, "how could he not tell me?!"

"He didn't want you to worry about him. He said that you and the defenders had enough things to worry about and he didn't want to trouble you."

"He didn't want me to worry?! Well, it didn't work because I was still worried about him. I would have appreciated it if he had trust me enough to tell me. I mean, I knew there was something wrong and it would have been great if he had told me what it was. It was… was… inconsiderate and selfish of him not to tell us!"

"I know that Mel, but I'm certain that he probably had a good reason not to tell us. Besides, yelling out me won't help and I doubt yelling at him won't help either."

"Oh, Adam's going to get a piece of my mind. I'm going to let him know just how angry I am that he kept it a secret from me."

"Just don't tell Erik and Kara. I'm certain that Adam would appreciate it if we didn't tell him."

"What about Seth?"

"Oh, he already knows."

"He already knows? Adam told Seth but not me? I don't believe it!"

"Oh, no, no, no. Adam didn't tell Seth, I told Seth after he had listened in on a conversation between Adam and me."

"And Seth didn't tell me? Oh, he's getting a piece of my mind too."

"He probably didn't tell you for the same reasons that Adam did and…"

Suddenly Robonus appeared between them and started waving his arms around like crazy.

"Robonus? What are you doing here?"

"Maybe they found the machine." Robonus nodded his head at what Rion said and pointed in the direction that he came from.

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go! Show us the way Robonus."

Mel and Rion ran after Robonus, one filled with anticipation of what was to come and one filled with anger towards two of her colleagues.


	6. The Way Of The Drevac

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Six: The Way Of The Drevac  


"Adam! Adam! Adaaaaam! Where are you Adam?! This isn't funny anymore!" [INot that it was ever funny but still not funny. I just can't believe it! I turn my back on him for one second and he disappears. Does he really not want to talk about the dream this much[/I?

Seth turned down another corridor and still no sign of Adam. _How can anyone disappear so fast? Where could he have possibly gone? He couldn't have just disappeared into thin air_. He was about to cry out Adam's name again when he caught Adam out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw that he was in a bedroom looking at a painting of some guy in military clothes.

_Finally_! "Adam, what are you doing here? Why did you disappear like that?"

No response.

"Hello? Adam? Can you hear me?"

Still no response.

Is _he zoned out again? Or is he just ignoring me_? An annoyed expression appeared on his face as he thought _I bet he's probably just ignoring me. Stupid little Infinis creep_.

"Hey Adam, listen when I'm talking to you" growled Seth as he grabbed a hold of Adam's left shoulder.

"Huh, what?" murmured Adam as he flinched at the contact and turned to face Seth. "Did you say something… um… Seth?"

"Yeah, why were you ignoring me?"

"Ignoring you? I wasn't ignoring you."

"Are you saying that you didn't hear anything I said?"

"No…. I guess not. Why? What did I miss?"

"Nothing. Soooo… what's so interesting about this painting?"

"Painting? What painting?" Adam looked behind and said "oh, that painting. I don't know. Was I looking at it?"

Seth blinked a few times before saying "yes, I believe you were looking at it. You don't remember? Think, Adam, you've got to remember something."

"Remember… what do I remember? Oh, yeah! I was walking beside you and you were asking me questions about the dream, so I started walking slower and slower until I could sneak off without you noticing." A small frown appeared on Seth's face after hearing that. "So I walked down a few corridors until I came across a closed door. I felt a desire to go in there, so I opened the door and searched the room. When I came across this painting, I just stopped and thought 'boy this guy looks familiar' and then I…"

"Wait! He looks familiar? Have you seen him somewhere before?"

"I don't know. I don't remember coming across his picture before but…"

"But what?"

"That symbol on his chest looks veeeery familiar. I'm certain I've seen that before, but where?" Adam put his hand under his chin and put on a thoughtful expression. "Where, where, where did I see it before? Oh, wait. Now I remember."

"Really? Where did you see it?"

Adam turned to Seth and said "I saw it on a journal that I found in an old house."

"A journal in an old house?"

"Yeah, according to the journal, it was used as a temporary base for his troops and... Hey, it's V-Moth"

"V-Moth?" Seth turned around and saw V-Moth flying right up to them all excited and full of energy. Seth smiled as he exclaimed "they must have found the device! Come on, Adam, let's go!"

Seth immediately darted after V-Moth; Adam, on the other hand, took one last inquisitive look at the painting before running after them. "Hey guys, wait for me!"

"You snooze, you lose Adam!"

* * *

V-Moth, Seth and Adam arrived at the door to find Kara, Mel, Rion and Erik waiting at the door. The first thing they noticed was that Mel was giving them an angry look while Rion was giving them an apologetic look.

_Oh, this is going to be bad_ thought Adam. _Maybe I can blame everything on Seth_.

V-Moth returned to Kara's hand as she said "took you guys long enough."

"Sorry, we had a little problem, nothing too big. Why aren't you guys in yet?"

"We can't get the doors to open" said Erik. "And before you even try, we already tried using our stones. It and the walls are sigil-harden."

"Maybe my Phase Stone can get us in" said Adam as he stepped forward. He took out his stone and cried out "go Phase Stone" as he chucked it at the door. Thunk! Everyone, especially Adam, watched in surprise as the Phase Stone hit the door and just bounced back.

"It… it… it didn't work!" cried Adam. "I don't understand. Why didn't it work? The Phase Stone allows you to pass through anything, even if it's sigil-harden. I'm going to try the wall."

Adam once again threw the Phase Stone, but this time at the wall. The result was the same, it just bounced off.

"Omnikrag. Take form!"

The statues all around them came apart and move in front of Seth as Omnikrag began to take shape.

"I guess the floors must be sigil-harden too" muttered Seth.

"What do you wish me to do?" asked Omnikrag.

"See if you can knock down that door."

"No problem" he said as he punched the door. The moment his fist touched the door, however, he immediately turned back into his stone which went flying back as Seth.

"Whoa!" cried Seth as he caught the stone. "What was that about?" Seth eyes blazed with angry as he said "okay, this door is asking for it. Nooova Henge!" Seth threw the Nova Stone at the door and eagerly waited for the impact.

He was in for a disappointment. The moment the attack hit the door, the door and walls glowed blue and then the door shot a beam of blue energy right at Seth.

"Look out!" cried Adam as he pushed Seth to the ground. The beam barely missed Adam and hit the fountain instead. At first nothing happened, then the fountain started glowing blue and then it fall to dust. Seth and Adam got up and joined the others in staring at the remains of the fountain.

"Okaaay" said Erik, "apparently this door must be more than just sigil-harden."

"Oh really? What was your first clue? The fact that the Phase Stone and Nova Stone both failed or the fact that the door actually tried to attack Seth? Because those were some pretty good clues."

"Ha ha Mel" said Erik. "I'm being serious."

"So am I."

"Well, it sure didn't seem like it."

"Yeah, well you…"

"Enough guys, enough. This argument isn't helping. Erik, can you figure out what's going on?"

"Well, Seth" said Erik as he turned back to the door "I don't have a clue." He pointed his gauntlet at the door and began pressing buttons. "Hmmm…hey Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you scan the door with your visor?"

"Um sure" said Seth as he turned it on "but I don't see how… By the power of Vitus! What is going on?!"

"What are you picking up?"

"My visor recognizes sigils but at the same time it can't determine what they are. There seems to be some sort of interference."

"Interesting. Well, my gauntlet says that there's some sort of strange energy surrounding this room and that it's coming from this door. This door must be made out of some sort of special material." A big smile appeared on Erik's mouth and his eyes lit up as he said "this is amazing. This is beyond sigil-harden. No stone works on it and it can attack whoever attacks it. It's the ultimate defense. We'll probably never come across something like this again. We are so lucky to be able to witness such … such… such…"

"Yeah, we're so lucky" grumbled Mel. "The device we need to help us save the realm is behind an impregnable door and we don't have the key."

"The key?..."

"Yeah, the key."

"…The key?..."

"Yes, the key! The door is locked so you probably need a key to get in."

"…The key."

"Look, Adam, is there a reason you keep saying that because it's starting to get annoying."

"Yes… it mentioned the key."

"It mentioned the key? What mentioned the key?"

"The journal…"

Everything stared at Adam with confusion while Seth pushed past Erik to walk over to him. As he got closer, he noticed that Adam's eyes were blank and were out of focus.

"Adam!" He shook him; no response. "Adam!" He shook him harder; still no response. He sighed and asked "Adam, you're talking about the journal before, right?"

Adam nodded his head slowly, his eyes still out of focus.

Seth was relieved to get a response but he would have been happier if Adam had appeared livelier. The look on his face and those empty eyes kind of creep him out. _Seriously, who wouldn't be scared? I hope the others can't quite see this, especially Mel_.

"What did the journal say?"

"It said many things."

"I meant about the key." _Grrr. Even when he's out of it, he's still plays games with me_.

"It was written by the twentieth Drevac who…"

"Excuse me, but I only want to know about the key."

"…Carried with him the key to the abomination that was surrounded by the Sacred Stones of Arvkarc in the Shrine of Aquinae. The Shrine which have been guarded by the fifth and sixth Drevacs for so many generations."

"The Shrine of Aquinae? The abomination?" Erik put his hand under his chin as he went into deep thought. "The abomination could very well be the device we're looking for. From the looks of things, this clan was not a fan of technology. But what's with the twentieth Drevac and the other Drevacs?"

"According to the journal, he belonged to a clan of mercenaries whose leader is always named Drevac. They stood by the honor of the sword and Drevacs were usually chosen for the qualities they had. Upon the ceremony that made them leaders, they cast away their names that they had since birth and took on the name of Drevac."

"They were mercenaries? No wonder everyone in the pictures were dressed in militaristic clothes. I wonder why they had their leaders change their name to Drevac?"

"He wrote down that it was an old story that meant more than anything to him and the troops. A long time ago an army attacked a defenseless village. The reason for the attack had been long forgotten but the memory of the horrid event lives on. So many lives were lost and so much more would have been if it was not for her. The few villagers that had survived were rescued by a beautiful and mysterious maiden who had appeared out of nowhere.

"After she had vanquished the enemies, she turned to them and told them to head for the wasteland until they came across a castle. 'Inside, you will find an old man named Drevac. Tell him that Aquinae sent you and he will take you in.'

"Some refused to listen and went somewhere else but most believed her and headed out to the wasteland. They found the castle, as well as the old man who gladly took them in when he heard them say Aquinae's message. He showed them the Sacred Stones of Arvkarc and told them how they contained magical properties and were given to him by Aquinae.

"Everyone was happy at the castle until an even bigger army than the first one showed up. They had found out about the defeat of the first army from the deserters whom they had killed and had come to finish the job. They told Drevac that they would spare him if he gave up the villagers. Drevac refused and told them that if they attacked the castle they will face the protection of Aquinae.

"The army and some of the villagers thought he was an old fool. The army attacked the castle but Drevac had activated the Sacred Stones which placed a barrier over the castle that either nullified their attacks or attacked them back.

"The army fought their hardest against the barrio despite the horrible losses that they were experiencing. They were determined to destroy the villagers. They fought and fought until their numbers were very low. The General then decided to call the people cowards for hiding behind the barrier but Drevac told him they were the cowards for attacking a defenseless village. The General told him that the fight didn't concern him and that he was just putting himself as risk for nothing.

"Drevac then challenged the General to a one-on-one fight to prove that he was not a coward. The General agreed hoping that taking down the old man would destroy the villagers' courage. Drevac dressed up in his old armor and took out his old sword and went to see the General. The fight was not as easy as the General had hoped; Drevac proved to be an excellent swordsman despite his age. The fight was the most memorable fight that anyone present had ever seen. However, there could be only one victor and the victor was Drevac.

"Drevac was about the strike down the General when Aquinae once again appeared and stopped him. 'Do not kill this man, Drevac. I will not allow you to taint your sword with his blood. Taking down the follower does no one good.' She then turned to the General and the remainder of his men. 'Your leader is dead. He has fallen to the very vices that he strived so hard for. You have been declared villains and there is a price on all of your heads. If you do not believe me, then risk your life and return to your burned homes. If you believe me, then I command you to protect the very villagers whose lives you sought to take. I am your new leader and Drevac is your new commander. If you refuse, then so be it but if you accept, a good life awaits you.'

"The remainder of the army listened and swore upon their honor and on the name of Aquinae that they would protect them till their deaths. They kept their promise and more. They taught the villagers how to fight and Drevac gave them the weapons which he owned but had barely been used. He told the villagers that Aquinae had told him to collect as many weapons as possible, like as if she knew that they would one day come.

"Once again, everyone was happy until the day that Drevac died. With his last dying breath, Drevac summoned the General and told him that the castle was now his and that the people inside were now his people. The General was surprised, pleased and sad. He had come to know Drevac and was awed by his honor and bravery. When he left the room, Drevac, his greatest friend, was dead and he was now the people's savior. Before someone could call him by his name, he stopped him and said 'do not say that name, it no longer belongs to me. I am the second Drevac.' Since then, they were known as the Drevac Clan and all of their leaders were to be called Drevac."

* * *

Total and complete silence. Adam shook his head and looked around with surprised eyes; apparently free from whatever trance in was in.

"Wow" said Kara, "that was a very long story."

"And very informative too" said Erik. "Where did he find this story, again?"

"In a journal he found in an empty house that was used as a temporary base by them."

"This story must have meant as much to them…" said Mel "…as the story of how are parents sealed the Megalith means to us. It meant a lot to them and they didn't go anywhere without it in their hearts."

"Doesn't really help us, though" said Erik "since he brought the key with him, it's probably still at that abandoned home."

"Maybe not" said Adam as he dug his left hand into one of his many pockets. "I found this being used as a bookmark; it might be the key." He pulled out a strange looking bluish-white object which was attached to a looped string.

"I think it is" said Mel. "The two Drevacs on the door are wearing it around their necks. But where does it go?"

"There's a small slot between the doors" said Erik. "That must be where it goes. Give it a try Adam."

"Right" said Adam as he approached the door with the odd key ready. He put it in the slot and turned it slightly to the right. There was a small click and the right door opened slowly towards the inside of the room.

Seth stepped forward and pushed it completely opened. The defenders walked in complete awe of the sight before them. Adam, however, stood at the door for a little while before entering the ancient room.


	7. Aquinae

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Seven: Aquinae  


It was unlike any room the defenders had ever seen before. The ceiling was made out of some sort of blue glowing crystal which appeared to be the source of light in the room. The height of the curved ceiling almost made them feel dizzy and the shifting white colors in the crystal was breathtaking.

What was even more breathtaking was the beautiful statue that appeared to be made out of an unknown white crystal. Kneeling before them was a young and beautiful lady whose hands were outstretched as they held a white orb. Her hair was long and full with what look like two streaks that went from where they met in the middle of her forehead to the end of her hair. A few strands of hair covered her right shoulder while the rest flowed behind her. Her face was sculpted so magnificently that the defenders could see everything line on her face. Her nose was a picture of perfection, her cheeks full, and her head was tilted slightly to the left as if to emphasize the importance of accepting the gift. She had the sweetest smile upon her lips and her eyes were filled with kindness and had a hint of love. She had two diagonal line tattoos that went from the top corners of her face to covering her eyes. The flowing dress she wore did nothing to hide her curves and even though it was made of crystal, the defenders were sure it would have been made from the finest of materials. The defenders were certain that they would never ever come across a statue more beautiful than her.

"She's beautiful" said Mel in awe. "It's as if the artist was in love with her and wanted to catch her best qualities."

"I would completely and totally understand how he could love her" said Seth dreamily. "She's almost like a dream." His expression became serious and he shook his head before saying "but we must not forget why we're here. There's a device to be found."

Erik was the first to look behind her and saw what he was certain what they sought. He saw what looked like a complex control console with buttons, levers and gauges of all kinds of color on it. A few meters away was a small pedestal with six claw-like attachments resting on top of it. Above the pedestal was a metal stalactite with wires sticking out and connected to a strange yellow crystal. What confused Erik the most was the four strange black stones that surrounded and curved towards the pedestal.

"Those must be the Sacred Stones of Arvkarc" said Kara as she and Erik approached the console. "And I guess she must be Aquinae" Kara said as she looked over her shoulder to the statue.

"Sooo, this must be the device then" said Seth as he, Mel and Rion joined them at the console. "Do you think you can figure out how to work it, Erik?"

"It'll take some time; I need to familiarize myself with this equipment first."

"We're willing to wait. Just do your best."

Mel turned around to see that Adam was still staring at the statue. _What is he doing? Is there something wrong_?

* * *

Adam looked over the statue with appreciative eyes. _She is indeed a beautiful woman. The artist truly must have loved her and put so much of his love into her_. He smiled at the workmanship until his eyes trailed to the orb. Something about the orb caught his attention and he crept closer to have a better look.

The orb began to glow and an image started to form on its surface. Adam immediately recognized it as the woman in the statue, except this was in color. Her dark blue hair looked like it was made of silk and Adam could see that there were indeed two white streaks in her hair. He saw that the tattoos on her face were a light blue that the sky would envy. She had cream-colored skin which looked soft and had no blemishes. Her lips were the color of blood and her eyes were a breathtaking grey. The black dress she wore had to be of the finest material he had ever seen. She looked straight at him and Adam could feel a connection between them. She gave him a dazzling smile and he could swear that there was a look of recognition in her eyes. _Impossible, we've never met before. How could she possibly recognize me? But, why do I feel like I know her? Like, I want to be with her_? She reached out for him with her left hand and a strange emotion that he had never felt before started to grow in Adam. _No wait. I felt something similar like this before but not quite like this. It's so familiar and yet it's still so foreign. What could it be_? Although, he could not attach a word to the feeling, it didn't actually bother him. All that mattered was that this woman was standing before him and that he needed something from her. _Even though I don't know what it is I want, I can tell that she is offering it to me and will gladly give it_. He found himself unable to resist and reached out for her as well. Their fingers were so close to touching when…

"Adam! Are you all right?"

Adam snapped out of the trance that he was in and saw that his left hand was reaching out for the orb in the statue's hands. He couldn't help but notice that his hand was as close to touching the orb as his fingers were close to touching the hands of the woman in his dreamlike trance. _What was that_? He looked towards his left to see a concerned Mel standing at his side.

"What… what was happening?"

"I don't know. The orb the statue was holding seemed to have your full attention and you looked like you had fallen into a deep trance. Did you see something?"

"Did I see something?" Adam's eyes were full of confusion and then they brighten up as he smiled. "Yeah, I saw something." He turned to the statue and placed his left hand on her right cheek. "I saw something alright."

Mel felt anger starting to build inside her at the scene before her. Adam was giving the statue an affectionate look and was caressing the statue's cheek. She clenched her fists and frowned as Adam looked lovingly at the statue.

He didn't know what it was but something about the statue was reaching deep inside of him and releasing something that he didn't know existed in him. He found that he couldn't resist and felt like she was a long lost friend that he always known and love. _Love? That's a bit strong, but yes, it is love. Not the same love that I feel for Mel but still love_. He let his left hand returned to his side as he bowed his head, a perfect figure of sadness. Adam could feel a desire to do something building in him and he resisted as best as he could. Finally, he could hold it back no longer and he gave the statue a big hug. He couldn't understand why he wanted to do it or why it made him feel so great, but he somehow felt that this was something he waited his whole life to do. _It feels so…_ "Yeow!"

With a snarl on her lips, Mel dragged Adam out of the room by his right ear. The sight of Adam embracing the statue not only disturbed her but also had filled her with anger that was more intense than she ever felt before.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Come on Mel, just let go. I can walk by myself you know." _Sheesh. What got into her_?

* * *

Mel dragged Adam into an empty room and shoved him in so that she was between him and the door.

After he recovered from the shock, Adam touched his aching red ear. He turned to Mel with an angry faced and demanded "what's gotten into you Mel? This isn't like you."

"What's gotten into me? What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you? You've been acting weird these last few days and you've been having nightmares but do you tell us anything? Nooooo. You have to go and handle everything your…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mel. Who told you about the dream? What is it Seth? Cause he really should mind…"

"No, it wasn't Seth! I had to wrangle the information from Rion and he…"

"Rion? Rion told you? Jeepers, next he'll be telling Kara and Erik."

"Well, he should be telling them or rather it should be you who tells them. It doesn't do any good to keep secrets from us Adam. It's not fair. I thought you trusted us." _I thought you trusted me_.

"I do trust you guys, it's just… just… it's just that what goes on in my head doesn't concern you. I can handle it on my own."

"Why would you want to do it alone? You've been alone so long, surely you must be tired of being alone. We care about you; we want to be there for you; even during your worst moments. Plus, misery loves company."

"Misery may love company but I rather not be the cause of your misery, Mel" Adam said as he smiled sweetly at her. "I want to spare you the pain and suffering that I go through."

"So, you admit that you've been suffering. And you think not telling me will prevent me from feeling your pain? Well… you're wrong! Telling me nothing doesn't spare me from pain, it only brings it! I want to know everything Adam! And I want to know it now!"

Adam's smile quickly vanished at her outburst. He felt agitation starting to build in him as he said "forget it Mel. You couldn't possibly understand what I'm going through."

"You're right, I don't understand what you're going through… because you won't tell me what's going on! If you told me, I would understand Adam!"

"No you wouldn't Mel. And I meant it when I told you to forget it because I'm not going to talk about it. Not now, not ever. So I'll just be taking my leave."

Suddenly, Mel's eyes starting glowing blue and her hair swayed in a nonexistent wind. Adam, who was a bit unnerved by the spectacle, tried to walk towards the door but found that he couldn't move his feet. He looked down and saw that his feet and the floor he was standing in were covered in ice.

"Okay…." said Adam as he looked up at Mel, "well, I've changed my mind. We'll talk right now."

"That's good Adam, I'm happy to see that you changed your mind. Now what should we talk about first? I know, how about your dream?"

"Dream? What dream?"

Mel's narrowed in anger before she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Adam was at first confused until he realized that the ice was slowly climbing up his legs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just wait a minute. The dream, you mean the one that's been bothering me, right? Well, the thing is… I really don't want to talk about it."

The ice kept on creeping up his legs.

"I mean it, Mel. I don't want to think about it. Look, it just scares me, okay. I don't want to think about it, I don't want it to exist. I… I… I just want it to go away."

The ice stopped and Mel opens her eyes and looked at Adam in the eyes. She saw that he seemed to be depressed and his eyes seemed almost tired. "It won't go away just because you want it to. It also won't go away if you don't talk about it."

"It won't go away if I talk about it, either."

"Stop it Adam! I'm your friend and I demand to be treated with respect and trust. I want to be there for you but I can't if you keep pushing me away."

"I'm not pushing you away; I'm trying to protect you from…"

"Protect me? From what? I'm a defender Adam, I'm not weak."

"I'm not saying you're weak…"

"I know Adam but you don't need to protect me, I can take care of myself. It's you who needs protecting; this dream is obviously getting to you. Get it off your back; tell me everything." She placed her right hand on Adam's left shoulder as she gave him a weak smile.

Adam sighed and said "I won't tell you everything but I will tell you this: the dream worries me. I fear that it means something but I'm not sure what. Whatever it is, I have to watch my back and I don't want anyone getting hurt because of it. Especially you, Mel. I've told you before: I don't know what I would do without you."

Mel's eyes narrowed again as she said "don't sweet talk me Adam. I won't fall for this trick. How can you keep this a secret from me? I was worried about you. I don't want to see you in such bad shape. Promise me that you'll turn to me if you ever feel like talking, okay?"

"I promise Mel." Adam did the cutest puppy eye look that Mel had ever seen before saying "now, can you release me? My toes are starting to freeze."

"Ummm… not quite yet." Mel removed her hand from Adam's shoulder and started to shift her right foot.

"Is something wrong, Mel?"

"Well…" Mel murmured as she blushed, "I was wondering…"

"You were wondering what?"

Mel's face once again became angry as she said "what was with you and the statue?"

"Me and the statue? What are you talking about?"

The ice again slowly crept up as Mel growled "you were staring at for a long time and you hugged it like… like…"

"Staring at it?" Adam put on a thoughtful expression as the ice continue to creep up. "Oh, yes, I remember now. Ummm… Mel? Do you think you could keep this a secret?" When he saw Mel's face become angrier, he quickly said "I mean it, Mel. It's kind of embarrassing, especially the part where I hugged the statue. The guys will never stop making fun of me if they found out. Please, Mel, please?"

"Well, okay" said Mel as she stopped the ice from climbing up Adam, "but this had better be good."

"Okay, this is what happened" said Adam. Mel noticed that Adam appeared to be getting excited and she didn't like. She wasn't sure why, but she just didn't like it. "I was admiring the handiwork on it; I mean she was pretty but I felt that you looked better." Mel blushed at the comment while Adam kept going; "anywaaaay, everything was normal until I glanced at the orb. It was like some sort of spell; I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. I saw her in the orb and I saw that she was waaay prettier in person than she was as a statue. I mean, she was drop dead gorgeous and simply breathtak…"

Wham! Mel punched Adam right at the bottom of his chin with the angriest expression on her face. Some of the ice broke as Adam landed on his butt. He rubbed his chin and glared at Mel who glared back.

"What did you do that for?!"

"What did I do that for? Why do you think I did it?"

"I don't know. If I did know I wouldn't have asked the question, now would I? Seriously, why did you do it?"

"I… I… I don't know!" snarled Mel as she left in a huff.

Adam glared at Mel's retreating back until he realized something. "Wait! Mel! Come back! You didn't defrost me! Mel?!" He sighed and sat there as he tried to figure out what was going on. _What was with her? Why was she so upset_? Suddenly, his eyes opened wide as he dug his hand into one of his pockets. "Firefox, ignite!" Firefox appeared in front of Adam and awaited his command. "It's time to melt this ice, Firefox. But, ummm… please be careful, okay?"

* * *

Mel stormed into the room and stopped before the statue. Where there was once admiration, there was only frustration and anger. _Stupid statue. It's not that great. In fact, the handiwork is pathetic_. She walked up to the statue and, in frustration, gave it a good kick. "Ow!"

Seth turned away to see Mel rubbing her foot and glaring at the statue. _What's going on here_? "Are you alright, Mel?"

"Huh? Um yeah, I'm okay."

"What happened to your foot?"

"I…. ah… stubbed my toe on…. um… something."

_Okaaaay then_. "Well, maybe you could bring the Key here. Erik almost has the thing figured out."

"Right" said Mel as she joined the others at the console.

Kara turned around and, with a quick scan of the room, noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Adam?"

"Adam? He's… ah…. cooling off his heels somewhere. I'm certain he will join us when he's ready."

"Ummm, okay" said Kara as she stared at Mel with a concerned face. "Are you alright Mel? You seem kind of…. distracted and…. ticked off."

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm not the least bit upset. Not the least bit. There's nothing bothering this girl. Nothing at all."

Kara only gave Mel a strange look before turning back to her brother. "Are you almost finished tinkering with machine? This got boring before you even started."

"Actually," said Erik, "I think I've figured at how to work it. Mel, could you put the Key on that pedestal?"

Mel nodded as she took the Key out of her pocket and walked over to the pedestal. The moment she placed the Key down, the claw-like attachments closed in on it holding it in place.

"Okay Mel" said Erik "you better join us over here. According to these gauges, those stones are going to release some powerful energy."

Once all the defenders, minus Adam, were behind the control console, Erik turned on the machine. At first, nothing happened; but then the black stones began to glow and black beams shot out from the top of the stones to the metal stalactite. The wires started to crackle with energy while the yellow crystal began to glow. The area between the pedestal and the crystal were filled with strange yellow energy and the Key began to turn red.

"Is that normal?"

"I hope so. Or at least, it should be normal. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Well, this is it guys" said Seth, "we're taking the first step in our long journey."

The defenders smiled at the thought of what was ahead and waited for the machine to finish its job.


	8. Zad's Plan

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Eight: Zad's Plan  


Zad peeked out from one of the wrecked statues in the fountain room. He would have liked to hide in the room with the machine but it was too bright and there were no shadows to hide in. This was the moment he been waiting for. He reached into his pocket and took out the cylinder that the Ethos Lords had given him. With a sly smile plastered on his face, he ran into the room and stopped near the defenders.

"Is that Zad? What is he doing here?" growled Seth as he narrowed his eyes at him.

Zad tossed the cylinder into the yellow energy field before running for cover.

"Hey what is he doing? What was that thing?"

"I don't know Seth, but it messing with the energy field" said Erik.

"Oh no" cried Rion. "The stones, they're cracking!"

Everyone turned to the stones and saw that they were indeed starting to crack.

Seth turned to the cylinder which was floating over the Key and growled "it must be that cylinder thing. It's destroying the stones. We have to get rid of it." Seth ran forward only to be shot back by yellow and black energy. The area between the stones and the pedestal was now filled with crackling black and yellow energy which sort of resembled a bad lightning storm.

"The energy field's too much" said Erik. "We can't get through."

"Oh no" said Kara. "What are we going to do now?"

* * *

Adam had finally found his way back to the room in time to see Zad zip by. _What was that? Some kind of giant rodent_? He turned his head back to the room and was about to step in when he heard the commotion inside. He quickly ran over to the other defenders only to be hit by a flying Seth.

"Whaaa…? A flying Seth? Since when do you fly?"

"Since a strange energy started to destroy the stones which blasted me away."

"Huh?" Adam looked up and saw the mess that everything was in. He saw the crackling energy and the strange cylinder. He also noticed that there was some sort of strange energy that was darker than the stones was twisting around the stones. They were like slithering boas that were trying to squeeze their prey to death.

"Where did that cylinder come from and what's that energy?"

"I don't know. Zad threw the cylinder in and then everything just went crazy."

"Zad? Who's Zad?"

"He's some sort of anteater" said Seth as he approached the crackling energy again.

Adam remembered the giant rodent that had went by: _that must have been Zad_. "So, what do we do fearless leader?"

"I don't know Adam. I don't think there's anything that we can do. Not with this energy field up."

"Actually" said Erik who was still at the console, "I think that energy field only threw you back because you ran into it. Although there's nothing I can do about it, this machine suggests that we should be able to get through if we go slowly. But, it'll probably be too painful to handle."

"Oh, that's just great" muttered Seth.

Adam walked up to stand beside Seth and said "maybe if I use my cloak as a shield, maybe it will protect me from some of the energy."

"What?!" cried out Mel. "You can't do that Adam! It won't work!"

"We have to try, Mel. Besides, this cloak is made out of some special material. It might actually be able to provide some protection." Before anyone could say anymore, Adam shielded himself with his cloak and stepped into the field. It was incredibly painful and Adam felt the energy on his toes as he slowly moved across to the pedestal. _This would probably hurt my feet a lot more if they weren't still numb from the ice that Mel had covered them in. Thank goodness for Mel's ice powers and her quick temper_.

To the defenders, Adam's progress was slow and they could clearly see that he was in pain. Meanwhile, the cracks on the stones were getting bigger and were spreading. Adam was running out of time.

_One of us should have gone with him_ thought Mel.

Adam finally reached the pedestal and grabbed the cylinder. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for the worst. Nothing had happened. _I don't get it. If the cylinder caused this, shouldn't there be something to stop me? This is too easy_. He pulled the cylinder out, turned around and tossed it to Seth. However, the moment the cylinder flew out of the crackling energy field, Adam felt pain like he had never felt before. He couldn't stop a horrible shriek of pain from escaping his lips as he closed his eyes in pain. To make matters worst, he found that he couldn't move and senses seemed to be on overload. Everyone's screams seemed to be as loud as a banshee's and every step they took pounded in his ears. Scents that he had never noticed before assaulted his nose and he could almost swear that he could feel the air on his skin. _I wonder what I would see if my eyes were open_. The pain intensified and, for a brief second, he had a mental image of a figure on a roof somewhere before all went black and he succumbed to the peace of the darkness.

* * *

Zad peered back into the room after the worried defenders had taken the collapsed Adam away. He spotted the forgotten cylinder that had been left behind by the distraught defenders. He ran over to it and carefully picked it up. He intently examined it, trying to figure out what went wrong. _The cylinder should have taken energy from the stones, not destroy it. What happened_? He looked towards the ashes that were once the Stones of Arkvarc before leaving the room in haste. He knew that the Ethos Lords would not be happy that he failed to charge the cylinder with the energy from the stones. _But, if I had failed then the defenders must have failed too_. He took one last look at the room before slipping into the shadows. He failed to notice the slithering black energy that slid out the door and headed up to the ceiling even though he was looking right at them.

* * *

The slithering energy crept up through the cracks in the ceilings until they reached the roof of the castle. They combined into one as they crawled into an outstretched palm and curled itself into a black sphere. The dark figure wore a black cloak and the occasional flashes of lightning revealed nothing of his face except the eerie smile. "I have failed, but so have Zad and the defenders" he whispered to the sphere. "Sacred Stones of Arhvarc? What an absurd name. I wonder who gave it that name: the traitorous witch or that fool of a pawn, Drevac? No matter, the stones are destroyed. It's too bad that I didn't get any of their energy though, but something interfered with the transfer." He closed his hand and the black energy dissipated. _I should destroy the defenders now, but they might still be of use to me. After all, I have to find the pieces of the Celestial Abyss somehow_. The figure turned around and vanished into the shadows. Lightning flashed once more but the roof was empty.

* * *

Inside the castle the defenders had set up camp in an old kitchen they found. They had set up their sleeping bags near the fireplace and had started a fire. Adam had been laid down on his bag and Erik had checked his health with his gauntlet.

"He's fine" he said. "There's no sign of unusual energy and there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. A little bit of rest and he should be back to normal." _I hope_.

"But what happened to him big brother? It looked like the energy just attacked him or something."

Mel nodded as the memory of what just happened came to her. Adam had been fine until the cylinder had reached Seth's hands. The yellow and black energy had suddenly gone from crackling in the area to attacking Adam. _It was like as if the cylinder had been keeping the energy under control or something_. Adam had let out a bloodcurdling scream before he had stiffened unexpectedly. She was happy that he had closed his eyes because she was certain that she didn't want to see the pain in his eyes. Seth had immediately dropped the cylinder and he and Mel had gone to Adam. However, the two found out that they couldn't get near Adam because of the intense energy. Fortunately, when the stones had shattered, the energy had disappeared and Adam collapsed. She remembered picking Adam up and Seth telling Kara to grab the Key. _I'm so worried about Adam. I hope he's okay_.

"I'm not certain; the overload caused the circuits to fry so I didn't get any data. But, I'm certain Adam will be okay."

"He better be" said Seth as he looked at the depressed Mel, "he better be."

Kara walked over and looked at Adam with a worried look. Her face scrunched a bit and she knelt down for a closer look. "Hey, what's with the light bruise on his chin?"


	9. The Dream Of Sorrow

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Nine: The Dream Of Sorrow  


The fire had been reduced to embers and all the defenders except for Mel and Seth were sleeping.

"Don't worry, Mel. You heard Erik, Adam is going to be okay."

"I know, but I can't stop worrying about him. I wish there was something I could do."

"How about you fall asleep so that way he can see a well rested Mel tomorrow? I'm certain Adam would like to see you in good shape. You know, when he wakes up." _If he wakes up_.

"Yeah, I know. But, I just have this feeling… Oh, never mind."

"Yeah, Adam's really been having a tough time these last few da… Uh, I mean that he's been having a tough time dealing with…. with…. um…"

Suddenly Mel turned to Seth and said "that's right. Both you and Adam were keeping secrets from me. Why would you do that? Why didn't you tell me about Adam's nightmares? Don't deny anything because Rion told me everything." _Sort of_.

"You're mad at me for keeping secrets? You should be mad at Adam; they're his secrets."

"I was mad at him. I mean I am mad at him. I had a talk with him about it today."

"Really? Do you let him have it?"

"Umm… yeah, I did in a way." _I let him have it right in the chin_. "He assured me that everything was fine and… well… Anyway, Seth, tell me what you know about the nightmares."

"Nothing." He looked at Mel and saw that she was starting to get angry and so he continued; "no really, Mel. Adam told me nothing. He jut kept telling me that he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't tell Rion anything either. In fact, he had to nerve to tell both of us that it was nothing, that it was only bothering him a little bit. Can you believe that jerk?"

Mel's eyes widen in surprised after Seth finished his tirade. _If what he says is true, does that mean that I know more about the nightmare than them? Adam trusted me enough to tell me more than what he told Seth and Rion_.

Seth smiled as he saw a smile started to return to Mel's face. "Finally Mel, you're smiling. You know, you look a lot better with a smile on your face."

Mel looked away as she blushed and her eyes once again lay on Adam. "Poor Adam" she whispered.

"Yeah" said Seth. "The fact that he hasn't been eating these last few days probably hasn't helped either."

"He hasn't been eating! What do you mean he hasn't been eating? How do you know? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was watching him during mealtimes and he didn't eat anything. I confronted him about it today but he denied it. Hey, what are you doing?"

Mel angrily walked over to Adam and began to shake him. "I'm waking him up so that I can yell at him for not eating." She stopped, however, when she got a look at Adam's face. "Adam? Seth! Get over here! There's something wrong!"

Seth ran over and took a look at Adam's face himself. Adam had a grimace on his face, was breathing harshly and sweating. "He must be having a nightmare" said Seth.

"Wake up, Adam, wake up!"

* * *

Adam felt uncertain as he walked down the dark and gloomy road. He was surrounded by nothing but rock and the sky was a dark grey. As he walked, he noticed that some strange stuff started falling from the sky. He caught one in his hand and took a close look at it: a black cherry blossom. When he looked up at the sky again, it was filled with them. _An entire shower of them, but…_, he looked down at the empty ground in wonder _why aren't there any on the ground_? He couldn't understand what was going on but he felt that he should continue with his journey. He had to get to the end of the path. _I wonder why_.

As he walked further down, he noticed that there was a dark figure standing on the path. Curious, he started to run over to the person only for the person to run away. He chased after her as they both moved down the path until the figure finally stopped. Adam stopped too, a few meters away from the figure and saw that the figure was wearing a black old-fashioned ball gown that appeared to be made out of the finest silk. She turned around and Adam saw that it was Aquinae with a baby in her arms.

[IA baby? She had a baby[/I? He squinted his eyes at the baby and saw that she was wearing a sky blue frilly dress and that she had the same tattoos as Aquinae. The baby smiled at him and he smiled sweetly back at her. For reasons he didn't understand, he felt the same way towards that baby as he did for Aquinae. _Weird. I don't even know either of them. Why am I so certain that this woman is Aquinae_? He then turned to Aquinae and asked "is she yours?" His eyes opened wide at what he saw.

It was definitely Aquinae but there she was looking terrible. Her skin was pale, almost white, her grey eyes were dull and listless, there were bags under her eyes, her cheeks were sunken in so much that he could see cheekbones, her hair was lifeless and disheveled, and a sad and desperate expression was on her face. _She's dying_.

There was a hint of recognition in her eyes but it was pretty obvious she was too tired to do much. She reached out for Adam but collapsed. "Aquinae!" Adam rushed to her side and looked for the baby; she was nowhere in sight. He began to panic but Aquinae grabbed his arm and pointed away from the path. Adam squinted and saw a small shadow duck into the darkness. "I don't understand. Is that supposed to be her?" He turned to Aquinae to see her nod, a slight smile on her face. Adam reached out to place his hand on her cheek when a sudden wind blew black cherry blossoms into his face; momentarily blinding him. When he looked back at Aquinae, he was astonished to see that the wind and black cherry blossoms were blowing Aquinae away. He started to run after her with his arm outstretched when suddenly a familiar black energy wrapped itself around and squeezed her until she dissipated into black cherry blossoms covered in blood. The dark energy vanished and Aquinae's cherry blossoms joined the others, making it almost impossible to tell which were hers. The black cherry blossoms began to wane until there were no more.

Adam started to cry; _I can't believe she's gone. Why did this have to happen_? "Why?! Why?! Why her?!" He felt his knees become weak and fell to the round in sorrow.

"Adam! Adam! Come here! I want to talk to you!"

Adam lifted his head and looked behind him. The voice was coming from where he saw the shadow disappear. He was scared and sad but something about the voice made him trust her. _Maybe the baby grew up and wants to talk to me_ he thought as he plunged into the darkness.

* * *

It was unlike anything he had ever seen. The moment he had entered the darkness, the scene had completely changed. He was now standing in a swamp and there was a small group of glowing fireflies nearby. _I feel like I'm a kid again_. He looked at himself and was surprised at what he saw; he was a kid again. _Okay, change of scene and appearance_.

Adam soon felt his childish impulses take over and started to chase the fireflies around. As he chased them around, he began to notice that they seemed to be leading him somewhere. They reached a clearing that had fireflies flying in patterns that reminded him of mist and in the middle of the clearing was a little girl. The fireflies he was chasing suddenly joined the others, who rose a little higher, like a mist lifting in the morning sun.

Adam smiled and looked at the girl who had her back turned to him. He noticed that she was wearing a frilly sky blue dress that was just like the one the baby had been wearing. When she turned to face him, he had no doubt that she was Aquinae's child. She had the same tattoos as Aquinae, the same beautiful grey eyes, and the same dark blue hair(although hers was shorter, and had grey streaks). Adam noticed that she was wearing a sky blue ribbon in her hair and was wearing dainty shoes.

She smiled sweetly at Adam and said "hi, Adam. My name's Deirdre." She giggled and then began to spin around before stopping and facing him once again. "Isn't this place beautiful? I always carry it in my heart no matter where I go. But I suppose, I no longer really go anywhere anymore."

"Huh? I don't understand."

"I know you don't. And it's probably best for now that you don't but you're going to have to understand one day. I hope you're ready when it happens. I won't tell you and neither will mother."

"Mother? Oh, your mother, she's…"

"Gone? Yes, I know she's gone. She was gone when I was a little baby. I'm going to be gone too."

"What do you mean?"

Deirdre started to grow up at an exceptional rate. She was a teenager when she said "no one stays forever; eventually you'll lose yourself to the world. It's so strange; I lost my mother when I was a baby and yet I still spent many, many years with her."

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. Life is so complicated and it goes by so fast that it's almost like it's only a fleeting moment." Deirdre had stopped aging but was now an adult in a light blue strapless dress. She smiled at him before continuing: "all our lives are actually a fleeting moment in the vastness of time. Each life is nothing more than a minor flash in the never ending timeline. That includes mine and hers." She held out a little baby that was wrapped in a blue blanket. "My little child, but sadly I will spend very little time with her" she said as the baby faded into nothing. "She will grow up without me as I did without my mother. It's sad and unfair but life is hardly unfair. It's time for me to take my leave." She turned her back on Adam and started to walk to the shadows behind her.

"Noooooo!" cried at Adam as he attempted to run over to her. The fireflies, however, flew down and became a shield that he couldn't cross. Adam watched as Deirdre began to fade from sight but noticed that a strange familiar black energy wrapped itself around her. She faded completely from view and, shortly afterwards, some fireflies flew from the direction she went and join the others. All the fireflies then flew up until Adam could no longer see their light. He crouched down to the ground to cry as the world became black.

* * *

When Adam opened his eyes, he was sitting on a hard floor and surrounded by darkness. He squinted his eyes but still couldn't make anything out. He decided to check himself and found that he still a small child. _What is going on here_? He heard the soft clinking of shoes behind him and turned around to notice a figure standing there.

Although, he couldn't make out the person he knew that it was a woman and he felt a strange intense love for her. It was similar to how he felt for Aquinae and Deirdre but somehow his love for this stranger was much stronger. When she opened up her arms and knelt towards him, he couldn't contain himself; he ran over to her to give her a big hug.

But before he could reach her, she was hit by a dark blast that sent her flying backwards. Adam heard her let out a short but horrible scream, heard a loud thud, and then silence. Somehow, even though he couldn't see her, he knew she was gone.

He ran over to look for her but slipped on a pool of a warm and sticky substance. He looked at his hands and saw that they were covered in blood. _Not my blood_. It was than that he noticed the form of a dark body lying nearby. _It's her_! He began crawling through the mess to reach her when someone suddenly grabbed him roughly by his shoulder from behind. "Hold it, brat" came out a rough male's voice, "you're coming with me." The unknown man began to drag him away while Adam struggled against him to no avail.

Desperately, he reached out his hand towards the dead body and screamed out as tears fell from his eyes. "Noooooooooooooo!"

* * *

"Adam! Adam! For the love of Altas, wake up Adam!" Mel desperately shook Adam as the pain on his face seemed to get worse and worse. _Why won't he wake up_?

Suddenly Adam shot forward and clung himself to Mel's neck while placing his head on Mel's left shoulder. Mel was about to push him off until she noticed that Adam was sobbing uncontrollably. She glanced at Seth who was staring at Adam in concern.

Although Seth had not been happy when Adam had wrapped himself around Mel, he realized that Adam needed comfort right now so he contained himself. He watched as Adam cried like a little baby. Eventually Adam's crying stopped and his body slumped on Mel. He waited patiently for an answer but Adam made no noise.

Seth was about to shove Adam off when Mel held him up, turned to Seth and said "he fell back to asleep." Seth was at first confused until he heard Adam's soft snoring. _He is asleep_. "How can anyone fall asleep that quickly?"

"I don't know" said Mel as she placed him back on his sleeping bag. She looked at his face as she pulled his blanket over him. It still didn't look peaceful but it was at least better than it was a few moments ago. "I hope he's alright."

"He will be, Mel, he will be."

"I hope so" said Mel as she laid her head on Seth's right shoulder and held him for comfort. "I hope so."


	10. Moonlight Talk

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, and the Drevac Clan.

No reviews... Does that mean that no one likes my story?

Chapter Ten: Moonlight Talk  


Adam opens his eyes to see a beautiful clear sky with a few puffy clouds. _The roof must have fallen apart or something_ he thought as he slowly recalled the events that took place in the castle. Adam closed his eyes and wearily placed his hand on his head. He groaned as he slowly straightened himself up and looked around. He noticed that his vision was blurry, that his head really hurt and that he felt dizzy and nauseous. He some blurry moving objects which must be the other defenders and he could almost swear that he could see some sort of bush behind them. _Hmmmm… either I'm mistaken, the castle suddenly has a major weed problem, or we're no longer in the castle_.

Suddenly, one of the blurs came running up to him and said "oh Adam. You're awake. How you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine; as fit as a fiddle in fact" lied Adam.

"Really? You don't look too well. Maybe you should rest for a while longer."

"I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me."

"Really? Would you like to prove it?"

"Sure" said Adam with a nervous smile. "What sort of test should we do?"

"Let's start by telling me how many fingers I'm holding up" said the figure as he held up his right hand.

"That's easy" said Adam as he glanced at the hand, "four."

"Ummmm…. I think you need some more rest. Just to be on the safe side."

"Give me one good reason, Seth."

"How about two? One: I'm holding up two fingers, two: I'm not Seth. So you should get some more rest, okay?"

"No" growled Adam as he stood up. "I'm perfectly fine, there's nothing tooo beee worrri…" Adam placed his hand on his forehead as a splitting headache appeared and his dizziness and nausea became much worse. He felt himself lose his balance and fall but he lost consciousness before he even hit the ground.

* * *

Adam groaned as he once again opened his eyes. This time he was greeted with the sight of a starry night sky. Looking around, he was delighted that his eyesight was fine and that all of his other problems were gone. He noticed that Erik and Rion were talking amongst themselves and that Kara was kneeling down at the fire. He also noticed that both Seth and Mel were nowhere in sight and that they were indeed surrounded by brush. _We are most definitely no longer at the castle, that's for sure_. "Ow!"

Adam rubbed his forehead as he looked up at the person who hit him. "What did you do that for, Seth?"

"To get your attention, what else?" growled Seth. He pointed behind him where Kara, who was trying to stifle her laughter, was standing with a bowl of steaming food. "You have got to be hungry, Adam, so you better have some food."

"I'm famished" said Adam as he took the bowl from Kara. It was true; Adam had never felt so hungry before in his life. He quickly and greedily gobbled down his food and Kara volunteered to get him some more.

"It's good to see that you're finally eating again" said Seth as he handed Adam a drink.

Adam took it as he said "yeah, I don't know why I didn't before."

"Ha!" cried out Seth. "So you admit that you weren't eating."

"Ummm… yeah, you said you saw everything, right?"

"Yes, but you denied everything too."

"Oh, you're right. I did deny it. My bad."

Kara brought over another helping of food which Adam ate with gusto. He was just finishing the drink that Seth had given him when Mel snuck up behind him.

"Sooo, you're going back to healthy habits again?"

Adam turned around to face Mel and put on a big smile. "Yeah, I guess Seth told you, huh?" She nodded his head. "Sorry, I didn't want you to worry about me. I just wasn't feeling hungry for some reason but I feel so much better now. I promise."

"Hmph, we all know how much your promises are worth." She gave Adam a look that told him that she wanted to talk to him alone before turning around and disappearing into the woods.

"Well guys" said Adam as he turned to a confused Kara and a slightly angry Seth, "I've got to…ummmm… go do something in the woods." He quickly got up and sprinted after Mel.

Seth glared at Adam's disappearing back before turning to Kara and saying that they should head to bed.

* * *

Adam entered into a small clearing and saw that Mel was sitting on a log. _Man, the defenders must really like woods or something_. He smiled as he approached Mel until he saw that she looked a little angry.

"Adam?" her face changed from anger to concern. "What do you remember?"

"Huh? Ummm… I remember being in the castle, having an argument with both you and Seth, the statue…." He felt a pang in his heart as he recalled the image of Aquinae. He couldn't understand why the thought of her hurt him or why he started to feel sad. "I remember finding the machine acting weird and, for some reason, I walked towards it."

"The machine was indeed malfunctioning. Zad, an anteater dude that you probably don't know, threw some sort of strange cylinder in it that messed it up."

"Yeah, I think I had a glance at him when he went by me…"

Mel glared at Adam for interrupting and continued: "after you removed it, you were attacked by energy until you collapsed. The stones are destroyed and the Key is practically useless."

"Practically useless?"

"It sometimes works but mostly it doesn't. We're following one of its leads right now. Erik said that he figured you would be alright, but just in case, we did considered taking you to the nearest dojo. It's still pretty far away."

"Dojo? Oh, there's no need to go to one. I'm fine."

"Yes, I had a feeling that the dojo wouldn't have been able to help you anyway." She sighed and looked Adam in the eye. "Adam, what was the dream you had that night?"

"You mean the dream that's been scaring me for so long? I already told you..."

"No, not that one. I meant the one that made you cry."

"The one that made me cry?" Adam felt a pang in his heart that was worst than the first and he doubled over as he clutched his chest with his left hand. Tears started to form in his eyes and small flashes appeared in his head. "Aquinae was in it…" Mel frowned at the name of the strange woman. "So was Deirdre and some other woman."

The frown became even worse and Mel felt agitation build. She was about to yell at Adam until he looked up at her. His face was of pure misery and he put both of his hands on his head and started shaking it.

"No, no, no, no. I don't want to remember, I don't want to remember." He rushed to Mel and held her tight while murmuring "help me Mel. Help me forget."

"No, Adam. You have to remember. Remember and tell me. I will make everything better than."

Adam looked up at her and began: "well, I remember walking down this path and…"

* * *

Later that night…

Mel and Adam were both sitting on the log; both trying their best to be calm. Mel had comforted Adam after he had told her the whole dream with the girls. She couldn't understand why Adam felt connected to three strangers or why he cared about them so much. Sometimes she felt so….

Adam looked towards Mel and smiled at her before saying "you know what Mel?"

"What?" she growled as she turned to face him. _Why am I so mad_?

"The way that the moons' rays hit you and with your head positioned right in front of the moons… you look just like a moon goddess."

"Really?" said Mel as she began to smile and blush.

"Yeah, really" said Adam as he looked dreamily at Mel. "You move with a grace that only the highest of beings could ever have and your headpiece is like a crystal tiara. Your hair is like a thousand twinkling stars caught in silver threads carefully woven by the most skilled of weavers. Your skin…" he said as he placed his left hand on her right cheek "… is as soft as the finest silk and even the most beautiful of sunsets would envy how it fits you so well. Your eyes are like a deep blue sea and I find myself drowning in them. Your lips… your lips are like… like…" Adam moved closer and closer to Mel as the two looked at each other dreamily in the eyes, when….

The head of a little girl with blonde hair and violet eyes suddenly came out of Mel's face. Both let out a shriek as they jumped away from each other. The little girl, dressed all in white, looked up at Adam and said "hey Adam, I need to talk to you. Is this a bad time?"


	11. Shantra

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, the Drevac Clan and Shantra and her sisters(except Karmi).

Chapter Eleven: Shantra  


Adam couldn't believe his eyes; she was here. She stood before him with her curly blonde hair, her white dress with the white sash, her dainty white shoes and that strange white flower in her hair. _She hasn't changed the last bit and will probably never_. She closed her eyes and gave him a sweet smile as she walked to the side. Adam looked up at Mel and say that she had her arms crossed and was shivering.

"What's wrong Mel? You're shivering like a baby mouse in front of a Dakowolf."

"Don't you feel it Adam?" asked a confused Mel. She looked around anxiously, seemly unaware of the nearby girl

"Feel what?" asked Adam whose eyes went from looking at Mel to the little girl and back again.

"It was like this unbearable chill" said Mel as she shivered less and uncrossed her arms. "I mean, one moment I'm perfectly comfortable and then the next my whole body feels like I'm trapped in an icicle. Even my face felt cold. Ummmmm… Adam?" said Mel with an uncomfortable and embarrassed look. "I'm going to said something weird but you have to promise not to laugh, okay?"

"I promise not to laugh." _I have a feeling that I know what you're going to say, though_. Once again he glanced in the girl's direction before turning back to Mel.

"Well, this strange chill. It felt like it had a form, like it was some kind of entity." She looked up at Adam and saw that there was no humor or doubt in his eyes. _He believes me. He also doesn't seem very surprise_. She then noticed that Adam was glancing towards the side with a look of disapproval. Confused, she looked in the direction he was and saw nothing but the trees. "Is someone there, Adam?"

_She doesn't see her_ realized Adam. _She's looking right at her and doesn't see her. I don't understand. I thought for certain that Mel, being a Wizard of Yan, would be able to see her. She must not be able to hear her either_. "There's nothing there Mel. I just…. A little freak out, that's all. So, it had a form? What type of form?" _A little girl, perhaps_?

Mel was surprised by the question and wasn't certain what to say. _He's taking this seriously, too seriously_. "I didn't notice what shape it was, just how cold it felt. Why? Did you feel it too? Did you notice a shape?" She waited anxiously for his answer.

"Ummm… yeah, I felt it too" lied Adam. "That's why I leapt away. The same reasons as you but I'm afraid I didn't notice a form."

"Come on Adam" said the little girl as she impatiently tapped her feet. "Wrap this up and send her away so we can talk. I don't have all night you know."

Adam frowned slightly before saying "it was probably just a sudden cold wind that caught us off guard. We weren't expecting it so it appeared colder and weirder than it really was."

"I don't know Adam…."

"I don't know either, Mel. But, it is a very logical explanation don't you think? Maybe you should head back to camp and warm up by the fire. I'll join you shortly."

"Huh? Why don't you come with…?"

"I want to spend some time alone, to think about… some personal stuff that I would rather deal with on my own. Don't worry my moon goddess…" said Adam as he cupped her chin with his left hand, "…I'll be coming back to you."

"Well…" began Mel as she began to blush, "okay, but come back soon. Otherwise I'll worry too much about you and come back to drag you to the campsite." She started to head back to the campsite but stopped momentarily to smile and wave at him. Adam smiled and waved back until she was out of sight.

"Finally" said the little girl as she approached Adam. "Took her long enough for her to leave."

An annoyed Adam turned to her and said "okay Shantra, this had better be good. And I mean really good."

* * *

"That's it! That's it! You just wanted to spend some time with me?!" Adam paced back and forth in frustration as Shantra gleefully watched. "Couldn't you have just snuck on me and then say hi? Mel can't see or hear you so she wouldn't realize you were there." _I can't believe that she ruined a simply wonderful moment between me and Mel for this. Everything was just perfect_.

"But Adam" pleaded Shantra as she gave him puppy eyes. "If she was there, you wouldn't have talked to me. You've been careful when it comes to talking with me since you were a child."

"Yeah, but…."

"How can you choose that girl over me?" interrupted Shantra, "I've known you since Brackus kept you in that dojo and you barely know the girl. Who was there to keep you company in that lonely place? Who was there to listen to you and to give you a voice to listen to? Me, not that…. ummm… Mel was it?"

"Yeah, her name is Mel. But Mel didn't know about my dojo and couldn't leave hers…"

"I didn't know about the dojo either until I stumbled across it."

"Yeah, well Mel can't walk through walls and everyone would be able to see and hear her… Sigh. Was it really necessary to pass though her? You know that everyone you pass through feels an intense cold as pass through."

"I wanted to grab your attention and get rid of her. What's wrong with passing through people? You used to love it when I did it to people."

"Yeah, but that was when you passed through the acolytes and Brackus. You ruined a great moment for nothing…"

"Jeepers creepers Adam, it wasn't easy to find you. First, I had troubles convincing Karmi to find you for me and then I had troubles finding the place on the map so I would know where to go. Karmi wouldn't tell me where it was and told me to find it on my own, the little meanie, and then Neecona approached me and said that she had a message that she wanted me to deliver to you and I was like…."

"Wait! A message? From Neecona? What is it?" _I hope it's nothing bad or ambiguous; although it's probably both. Neecona's messages are almost always ambiguous and she probably wouldn't bother asking Shantra to deliver good news to me_.

Shantra looked both ways with a cautious and serious look on her face before gesturing him to come down to her level.

_She can be such a kid at times. It's funny; she must be older than me but she looks and acts like she's 8_. He knelt down and lowered his head so that she could whisper in his ear.

"She says" whisper Shantra "to be careful. You're in great danger; more danger than you could ever imagine"

Adam frowned a little as he slowly got up. "I'm in great danger? Did she say what kind of danger or does she not know?"

"I'm afraid that's all she told me. If she knew more, she would have told me." She smiled as she reached out and pulled on his sleeve. "I think I'll hang around a bit and get to know your friends but first, I think I'm going to enjoy all this plant life. There's nothing like this at home. Go; your girlfriend is waiting for you."

Adam nodded and said "thanks for the message Shantra. I'm sorry about yelling at you before. I guess I was just mad for another ruined moment. After all, you're my first friend and you've always looked out for me." He turned and walked back to the camp while Shantra waved good-bye.

After Adam left the clearing, Shantra's eyes shifted to a bush to her far left. "Yeah, Adam. I've always looked out for you. Always" she whispered as a sly look appeared on her face.

* * *

_I cannot believe what just happened_ thought Seth as he watched Adam leave from the bush he was hiding behind. _It's a good thing that I had decided to follow them to… check that they were okay. This bush proved to be an excellent place to hi…. watch from_. He had been angry when Adam had told Mel about the new dream and had been even angrier when Mel comforted him. He had been extremely when Adam started to flirt with Mel. I _can't believe that Mel liked those stupid lines of his_. He had been surprised and relieved to see them suddenly jump away from each other. He was happy to see Mel head to the campsite without Adam and was surprised when Adam started talking to nothing.

_He must have totally lost it. He was talking to thin air like it was an old friend and even gave it a name. I wonder if I should tell anyone about this. If I tell Mel, she'll just be more worried about him than ever before. Maybe I could just make fun of him or better yet, blackmail him to_…

"Aiyeeeeee!" Seth suddenly grabbed his head with both hands and fell forward. He slowly got up with a dazed look in his eyes as he said "phat wath thab amouth? Ix felbth queally veirth. Ith webber gath thebe obbers." He slowly and awkwardly ventured but to the camp while keeping his right hand on his head.

Shantra stepped out from behind the bush that Seth had come from. The leaves didn't move or make a sound as she passed through but some frost did appear. Shantra looked at hers hands in disbelief. "Wow, I can't believe that it actually worked." She watched Seth leave the clearing in wonder. _I better not tell Adam about this. I hope I didn't leave any permanent damage_.


	12. Seth's Dream

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, the Drevac Clan and Shantra and her sisters(except Karmi).

Chapter Twelve: Seth's Dream  


"So, is Seth okay?" asked Adam as he brought a full pail of water into the campsite. He and the others had been worried about Seth since he stumbled into the campsite while mumbling incomprehensible words.

"Yeah" said Erik, "we can understand the words he's saying now but we still don't have a clue what he's saying."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand when you see him."

Adam nodded and carried the bucket over to where Seth, Kara and Mel were. A concerned Kara stood to the side while Mel was kneeling over a babbling Seth. When they noticed that Adam was approaching, Mel took out a cloth from her pocket. Adam placed down the bucket and Mel dipped the cloth in before laying it on Seth's forehead.

"Everything will be fine, Mel" said Seth. "The unicorn will come and banish the ogre from the kingdom of fire."

"How long was he been doing this?" asked Adam as he heard Erik approach. He looked around the campsite and saw Rion was keeping watch, in case whatever did this was still here, and Shantra was staring at the fire while occasionally glancing at Seth.

"Beware the angel of mercy, she only knows the mercy of the man in the white hat."

"Since he started speaking actual words" said Erik. "I just don't understand what's going on. His brainwaves are registering fine, except they seem a bit slow…."

_So his brainwaves are just fine_ thought Adam.

"We must turn to the fairy queen to show us the path of redemption."

"…But my sensors said that his head is way colder than normal. Maybe we should have boiled that water first."

"Wait" said Adam, "you said that his head seemed colder?" His eyes turned to Shantra as a suspicious feeling came over him. _Nah… she wouldn't do anything like this_.

"Ah, youth is so old and time does not exist."

"I wish he wouldn't say such nonsense" said Erik. "It's creepy and confusing."

"Darkness falls and the light shatters."

"Darkness falls? And the light shatters? That doesn't make any sense" said Erik. "If darkness falls then the darkness should be what shatters, not the light."

"Nothing he has said lately makes any sense" said Kara. "Not unless of course you think we need to find the fairy queen or that a unicorn can take on an ogre."

"A thousand times I have died and a thousand times I have lived."

"Okay" said Adam, "you have to admit, that one did make some sense."

"No it didn't" said Erik. "You only live and die once. Why did he say die first? Shouldn't he have said live first?"

"This isn't funny guys" growled Mel. "There's something seriously wrong with Seth."

"When the great oak speaks, only the deaf are willing to listen."

"We know Mel" said Adam. "And we're sorry if we seem insensitive but Seth is a tough guy. Whatever this is, he'll get by it like it's a snap. He'll be back to his old self in no time. I know it."

"Thanks Adam" said Mel. "I needed to hear that."

"Look!" cried at Kara. "He's fallen asleep." They all looked at him to see that he had indeed fallen asleep.

"I think we should head to sleep as well" said Adam. "Only Seth knows what's going on in that head of his and only he can tell us the answer. Hopefully, he'll be able to tomorrow." Kara and Erik nodded and headed towards their sleeping bags. Adam took one last look at Seth and said "I envy him."

"Hmmm. Why is that Adam?" asked Mel as she looked at him carefully.

"He has such a peaceful look on his face. I betcha when I sleep that it's not the least bit peaceful. I guess I better prepare to face the nightmare again." He slipped into his sleeping bag nearby and said "don't worry about him Mel. I was serious when I said he'll be alright. He's strong; this thing isn't going to get to him. He'll be alright tomorrow."

"You know what, Adam? I think you're right. Also, I have this feeling that whatever did this to him won't attack us. I'm going to tell Rion to get some sleep too." She walked over to where Rion was and started talking to him.

Adam took one last worry glance at the sleeping Seth. _I know I'm right about you Seth. Get better really soon, for all of us. Especially for Mel_. He closed his eyes and the shadow hand and ball of light nightmare began again.

* * *

"Whoa" said Seth as a ferocious blizzard blinded him. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

Seth walked through deep snow as he tried to push against the howling and icy winds. He didn't have any proper protection on and ice was already starting to form on him. He noticed what looked like a faint outline of a house in front of him and was attempting to get there.

When he got close enough, he saw that it was indeed a house. _What a dump_. It was a black two-story house with boarded up windows, rotten wood everywhere, it was slanted to the left, and the roof was in disarray. _Oh, well. Beggars can't be choosers_ he thought as he walked up to the door.

He was about to knock on the door when he startled by a loud thud behind him. He turned around and saw that a portion of the roof had fallen and had just barely missed him. _Lovely, a near death experience is great for the heart_. He knocked on the door and waited; nothing. He knocked again and shouted "Hello! Is there anybody home?!" Still nothing. He growled and decided to knock harder but his fist barely touched the door when it fell off its hinges and landed inside the house sending dust flying everywhere.

"Umm" said Seth as he entered the house. Snow also entered the house and began spreading itself unto the untouched terrain. "Anyone home? I need some shelter from this storm. Hello? Answer me, you little creeps." _I guess no one is here. Which means that no one will mind if I take shelter here_.

He took a look around the room and was not impressed by what he saw. _The outside of the house looked better_. The floors were covered in dust as well as everything else, and the only furniture in sight were either moldy, very dusty, or fallen apart. The wallpaper was peeling off and there were some parts of the walls that were actually bare. There was some sort of dark liquid dripping from the ceiling. There were stairs leading up that looked about as safe as sticking one's head into a Dakowolf's mouth and a door in the corner of the room. The only source of light appeared to be from the door but the room was not very dark; only slightly.

Seth's eyes rested on a corner that had a bookshelf full of old books and a large table covered in old junk. He walked over and looked out the yellowed books on the bookshelf. He turned to the table and saw that there was a large opened book on the table. He peered at it and blew the dust off the pages. He was surprised to notice that the pages were talking about bloodlines in Rados and attempting to turn the page. However, the whole book turned to dust as he pulled it, only leaving behind the single page he was holding. He let the page slip out of his hand as noticed a globe sitting in the corner of the desk. When he walked up to it, he noticed that there were several destroyed ones on the floor. A close look at the intact globe revealed that it was a globe of Rados and that everything was clearly marked. _Even all of the dojos are marked on here_ he thought as he touched where the one he was raised in was marked. His finger punctured through and the globe fell apart. _Oops_. Bang! Seth turned around to see that a shelf on the bookshelf had fallen and that all of the books on and below it had turned to dust. _Oh yeah, this place is in perfect condition_ he thought as he noticed he was covered in the dust that had flew from the collapsed shelf.

He dusted himself off as he stared at the stairs. _Why not? Down here isn't exactly safe. Plus, I might find a nearly deaf old woman up there_. He walked up to the stairs but paused for a moment before taking his first step. He slowly walked up the creaky staircase, hoping that it would hold his weight until he reached the top.

* * *

When he reached the top; he couldn't believe his eyes. _This might actually be worst than downstairs. It's at least creepier_. The walls were covered in some sort of disgusting mold, the floors had some sort of dark ice with a few pools of liquids in it, there were five doorways in the hallway of which the doors were either hanging from their hinges or gone, and there were giant icicles in the hallway with dark liquid running down them. It was a little darker up here then it was downstairs so Seth turned on his visor so he could see better. _Unbelievable, just unbelievable. Who upon their right mind would live here_? Seth squeezed pass the icicles, shivering at the cold that surrounded them, as he made his way down the hall.

"Hello? Anyone home? I hope you don't mind the intrusion but it was cold and the door… opened on its own. Hello?" He cringed as the cold liquid seeped though his shoes and froze his toes.

He peeked into the first room and saw that it was in a mess. There were toys everywhere covered in a thick layer of dust, a collapsed bed sat in the corner, and there were frayed curtains hanging at the boarded up windows. He spied a dusty doll on the floor that gave him the creeps. _It looks almost like Adam and it seems to be staring at me_. The two stared each other down and the temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Seth gave up on the staring contest between him and the doll and walked over to the next room. He missed the smug look that appeared on the doll as well as the flowing curtains.

The other room was completely dark; he couldn't see the walls or the floor except where the single hanging light was. _Finally some light around here_ he thought as he stepped into the room. Suddenly, the light bulb on the wire began to sway slowly which gave Seth the creeps. He adjusted his visor for better night vision and saw that the room was completely empty except for a mat and some blankets on the far corner. _What kind of bed is that? This person needs a life_. Seth walked right underneath the light bulb and looked up at the string hanging from it. He hesitated for a moment before he reached out to pull on it. Before he reached the string, however, he heard a strange creaking noise and paused. _Is that coming from underneath me? Oh no_. As soon as he was finished that thought, the floor gave up underneath him and he plunged into the darkness below.

* * *

Seth smashed through the wooden floor and landed on a hard floor. "Ow" he muttered as he looked up at the broken floor. He could see that there were two broken floors and was grateful that he had failed to turn off the light. _Why did I try to turn it off anyway? Well, I guess I may as well check out the basement while I'm here_. He looked around and saw that he was completely surrounded by impregnable darkness that not even his visor could see through. _It's a very good thing I failed to turn off the light. But I'm going to have to find my way out_.

Seth walked into the darkness and saw that his visor only allowed him to see as far as his hands could stretch and he couldn't see the floor. _Perfect, just perfect_. Slowly and carefully he picked his way through the basement, hoping to find the door he remembered seeing on the first floor. _This place is as empty as that other room_ he thought with annoyance. Suddenly, Seth tripped over some sort of metal object and crashed to the floor. _Okay, maybe not_. He moved his right hand slightly and felt something cut it. "Ow" he cried as he looked at his bleeding hand; there was a piece of glass in it. He pulled it out and peered at the floor around him closely. He was surrounded by broken glass and at his feet was some sort of metal frame. He got up and began walking again, only to walk right into something made of wood. At closer inspection he realized it was a full-length mirror that was missing al of its glass. _I guess that explains all the glass on the floor. I wonder why it's down here and how all of the glass fall off_?

Seth sighed and then turned away from the mirror and once again began moving slowly through the basement. He once again tripped but this time he recognized the object that he fell on as stairs. _Finally! I was beginning to think I would never get out_. Seth carefully climbed up the stairs which squeaked with every step he took. Seth was relieved when he finally reached the door and turned the doorknob; nothing happened. _I don't believe it! The door is stuck_. He pounded against the door and even kicked it as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge. Seth leaned against the door with his forehead touching the cold wood as he closed his eyes in frustration.

"**_This place has seen better days, hasn't it_**?" said a raspy voice from somewhere in the basement

Seth opened his eyes in disbelief and went down a few steps to scan the basement. It was useless; he could still see nothing. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Were you here in the basement the whole time or were you following me?"

"**_What am I doing here? What are you doing here? I've been here for as long as I can remember. As for who am I, I don't remember. But that is not important. What is important is what you see before you_**."

"I see nothing."

"**_Exactly; this room was once so bright that there were no shadows here. Everything was fine until… it happened_**."

"It happened? What happened?"

"**_I'm afraid I cannot tell you; not that it matters since I do not want to. This very scene pains me like a thousand swords in one's back. I've lost my purpose, my treasures and my friends. I lost so much but you've lost much more_**."

"I've lost more? What makes you…"

"**_Just know this, defender. I know more than you and I know how the balance works. This place holds more value than you would think and affects you in more ways than you know. So beware, defender, beware of the lies that will be told. Beware of the truths that will be ignored. This tragedy will never happen, I will never let it. I will sever all contacts and leave worlds to burn before this happens. Go back to your vile Rados and leave this place as it should be. Never forget the balance boy; never forget it_**."

Seth stared at the darkness in confusion until he noticed that the ceiling was starting to come closer to him. In a panic, he ran back to the door and desperately tried to open it until the ceiling became too low for it to open. He jumped down to the floor and began searching for a way out. He once again came across the mirror shards but this time he noticed that they were glowing faintly. He also noticed that there was some sort of faint screams coming from the pieces. He looked up and saw that the ceiling was only a few feet away; it came closer and closer and closer until……

* * *

Seth suddenly shot up from his sleeping bag in fear and confusion. He quickly looked around him, only to notice that he was not inside the weird house. _Thank goodness. It was only a dream_ he thought in relief. He closed his eyes and fell back to sleep with a content look on his face.

Shantra, who was sleeping nearby, suddenly shot up. Something had woken her but she wasn't sure what. She could almost swear though that she had heard an unfamiliar voice in her head: **_I've returned him to his senses. There is no need to worry_**. Lazily she nodded her head and then went right back to sleep. **_What a sweet child_**.


	13. The Forsaken Woods

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, the Drevac Clan and Shantra and her sisters(except Karmi).

Chapter Thirteen: The Forsaken Woods  


_It sounds like a marvelous morning_ thought Seth as he lied on his sleeping. He had woken up feeling refreshed but slightly disturbed from the dream and had decided to enjoy the feel of the morning with his eyes closed. A tiny smile appeared on his lips as he turned to face the sky.

Slowly, memories of the night before enter his head. He remembered spying on Adam and Mel, he remembered hearing Adam's lame pickup lines, and he also remembered acting like an idiot. _Why was I acting like that? What was with the coldness I felt? Wait, something happened between Mel leaving and the cold snap, but what_? Try as he might, Seth couldn't remember what had happened in between but he was certain that something important had happened. _But what_?

He opened his eyes only to see Adam's concerned face hovering over him. "Yikes!" Seth shot out of his sleeping bag while Adam jumped back from him in surprise.

"Oh" said Adam as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "You're awake. Did you have a good sleep?"

"Um… yeah. Why were you hovering over me anyway? Were you concern about me?"

"Me? Concerned about you? Don't be silly. I knew that you were a tough guy and that you would have no problem pulling through. I was just…. um… just… um… just making certain that you weren't pretending to sleep. You know, in case you decided to try and surprise someone."

"I'd say that I surprised you, so I guess that means that I succeeded." He smiled as he looked towards the remains of the fire.

"I'm going to go and tell the others that you're okay. Everyone was worried about you, you know." _Including me_.

"Where is everyone anyway?"

"They went to check out the area that they figured you were…. stupefied in." Seth glared at Adam as he tried to hold back a laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't come up with a better word. Oh, and Mel went to get you some water. I promised to watch over you for her and to inform her if you should wakeup. She was really worried about you, you know. She'll be happy to see that you're awake and okay."

Adam began walking away but stopped when he heard Seth cry out "hey, wait Adam!"

"Yes?" he asked as he turned to Seth.

"The dreams you've been having. Was there a house and a cold blizzard in it as well as a creepy voice?"

"A house? A blizzard? A creepy voice? No, there's nothing at all like that in my dreams. Why do you ask?"

"No reason" said Seth as he waved Adam away. "No reason at all."

* * *

"So Seth" said Kara as the defenders rode their Stormers through the woods. "I guess this means we don't have to help the ogre defeat the fairy queen to save the unicorn from the kingdom of the oak."

"Huh? Oh, you're talking about when I was talking nonsense. Yeah, we can completely ignore what I said. Although, I'm pretty certain that I didn't say that."

"Well" said Kara as she giggled. "It was still funny and Erik was taking what you said seriously."

"Don't be silly Kara, I wasn't taking him seriously at all."

"Oh yeah? Then what was with the talk about the darkness and the light, then?"

"I was just commenting on the stuff he was saying."

"Yeah, right!"

"Yeah, I was. Anyway, we need to talk about more important things, like figuring out where we're supposed to go. The Key is pointing in an entirely different direction than it was before. How we suppose to find out where those pieces of the Celestial Abyss are if the Key keeps changing its mind?"

"I don't know. If only there was some way of fixing it" said Seth as he stopped his Stormer. He didn't like how the woods had suddenly changed. _The trees here are almost grey and look like they're dying_. He looked up at the blue sky above him and saw that the trees ahead were so dense that he doubted that light could get through.

"There's supposed to be a village on the other side of these trees" said Erik. "We could probably reach it by nighttime at the rate we're going at. We should head there and see if we can get some shelter for the night."

"Right" said Seth. "We should go this way."

Seth started moving his Stormer forward when Adam cried out "no Seth! That's the wrong way!"

"Oh, yeah? And how would you know, Adam?"

"I've been here before. You'll just get lost if you go through there. We should go around."

"But that will take longer" said Erik, "and it'll be dark before we reach the village."

"Yes, but we won't get lost if we go…."

"We won't get lost, Adam. Erik's gauntlet…."

"Will be useless there, Kara. It won't work properly."

"What? My gauntlet works just fine, thank you very much. Also, the map on it is perfect and fully functional. It's got some features that will blow your mind and…"

"It will be useless Erik. No map can help you in the Forsaken Woods."

"The Forsaken Woods?" asked Mel as she felt a slight chill on her back.

Shantra had slid off Adam's back and had accidentally touched Mel's. She giggled and skipped about while saying "that was fun Adam. But I bet it would have been funner if I could have sat on the Stormer myself. Hey, I'll race you to the village." She ran off in the direction of the Forsaken Woods while giggling her head off.

Adam watched her run off while thinking _that was very random of her. Sigh, she should learn some self-control_. He noticed the defenders staring at him weird and he remembered what it was that they were talking about. "Yeah, they call it the Forsaken Woods because everyone thinks that bad things happen in it or something like that. The villagers didn't exactly say why they called it that but that's got to be the reason, right? Anyway, everyone gets lost in the Forsaken Woods"

"Yeah, well we're not going to get lost" said Seth as he gunned his engine. "You guys coming?"

"Oh yeah" said Erik, "no one calls my gadgets useless." Seth and Erik both entered the Forsaken Woods while Kara, Rion and Mel both turned to Adam.

"They're just going to get lost" said Adam. "Come on, I know the fastest and safest route to the village."

* * *

"Well" said Erik as he looked at his gauntlet that had went haywire. "We are now officially lost."

"We're not lost" said Seth as he looked at the map. "We probably just took a wrong turn or something."

"What turn? Man, we should have listened to Adam."

"I'm going to ignore that comment."

* * *

It was slightly dark out when Adam, Kara, Rion and Mel reached the village. Mel was a bit worried that Seth and Erik weren't there and that there didn't seem to be any sign of a light in the village.

"Adam! Adam! Adam!" cried out Shantra as she ran over to him as he got off Mel's Stormer. "I beat you! I beat you! I beat you! Yah! Yah! I beat you!"

Adam smiled as he kneeled down and whispered "how did you beat us by foot? How did you find your way through the Forsaken Woods?"

Shantra looked at Adam with a serious expression before breaking out with a smile and gleefully saying "I'm not telling." She began hopping and skipping about as she sang "I know something you don't know. I know something you don't know. Hooray for me because I know something you don't know."

Adam felt a bit irritated for Shantra dismissing his question like that but he had to admit it was cute to see her act like that. _It's almost too cute_.

"Adam?"

"Yes, Mel?" asked Adam as he turned to her.

"I'm… we're worried about Seth and Erik. They should have been here by now."

"Yeah, my big brother is afraid of the dark and he needs me to protect him from the Boogeyman."

"They must have gotten lost" said Rion as he walked over. "Someone should really go and look for them." He looked at Adam with a curious expression. "Adam, how well do you know this area? Do you think that you could find your way through the Forsaken Woods?"

"Well…. I do have an excellent sense of direction and I have been on the outskirts of the woods but I'm certain the others will be here soon. People may get lost in there but they don't stay lost. Most of the time."

"Most of the time? Are you saying that some people have never found their way out?" Kara glanced nervously at the trees as the image of her brother and Seth wandering the forest in vain played in her head. "We have to do something! We have to find them!"

Mel nodded as she and Kara both ran over to the Stormers only for Adam to get in their way. "Get out of the way Adam" said Kara angrily. "We have to find Seth and my brother."

"Yeah, Adam. It does no good for us to stay here and wait for them if they're lost."

"Relax, relax girls. I'll go look for them. You two and Rion should find someone to give us shelter and maybe some more food." Adam smiled at them before heading towards the woods.

"Ummm… Adam? Don't you want to take a Stormer? It's faster" said a confused and concerned Mel.

"No" said Adam without stopping, "they'll just make it harder for me to find my way back. There's certain clues in the forest to tell you which way is the village but the Stormers move too fast and their lights are too bright in order to see them. Plus the clues are really small and require one to look extra carefully at one's surroundings. I'll find them without the Stormers and I'll lead them back here. See you guys later!"

The others watched as Adam disappeared into the dark brush before turning to the dark village.

"Something doesn't feel right" said Mel uncomfortably as she stared at the village.

"You're right Mel" said Rion. "It's barely dark out but surely there should be a light on somewhere."

"Also" said Kara, "there's no sign of anyone. I don't see or hear anyone."

"No, it's more than that" said Mel. "Something doesn't feel right here. In fact, something feels very wrong here. Very wrong and very bad." Her eyes swept over the abandoned village before she cautiously started moving towards the closest house.

Rion and Kara nervously followed her, prepared for the worst. They didn't know what was wrong but they were certain they were going to find out.

"What is wrong with these people?" muttered Shantra. "So it's quiet here. Big deal. It's not like it's the end of Rados or anything like that." She signed as she decided to follow the careful group. _I betcha Adam's having lots of fun right now. I should have gone with him. What's that_? Shantra squinted her eyes at the dark figure that was hiding behind a tree. "Well, the village isn't empty after all. These defenders will be pretty embarrassed when they realize they're getting all worked up for nothing." Shantra giggled before skipping over to where she had seen the shadow, but when she got there she found nothing. _How did that person move so fast? Wait! Maybe this person's hiding from the defenders. That can only mean one thing…. they're playing hide and seek_!


	14. Adam's Illness

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, the Drevac Clan and Shantra and her sisters(except Karmi).

Chapter Fourteen: Adam's Illness  


Adam moved through the Forsaken Woods at a quick pace as his eyes searched around him frantically. For reasons he could not understand, he was on the edge and he felt like he was in a lit kiln. His body shivered as a chill descended on him while he continued to sweat from the inexplicable heat. _What is going on here? How can I be cold and hot at the same time_? He leaned against a tree in exhaustion and wiped the back of his frigid hand against his sweaty forehead.

Adam pushed himself away from the tree and continued to wander into the woods. He noticed that he was starting to slump and that his pace was becoming slow and clumsy. _What is wrong with me? What happened to all that energy I had before? What else could go wrong_? His vision started to get blurry and the trees began to sway to and fro. _I just had to ask, didn't I_. He continued on walking, trying his best to ignore his poor vision, until he noticed something that really started to bother him.

His vision had become clearer and the trees had stopped swaying, but the trees appeared to be becoming thinner and were aligning themselves. As the trees begin to change, he noticed that a strange blue mist seemed to roll in out of nowhere. He felt panic started to overtake him as he came to a realization: _this is like a scene from my dream_.

He stops and looks around: nothing looks like the Forsaken Woods anymore and the strange mist is everywhere. _There's no light though. And there will never be a light. No light, no light, no light, no light, noooo liiiight_. Suddenly, a light appears in front of him and the exhaustion that had been with him vanishes. Adam turns around and makes a mad dash for it, fear pumping blood into his heart faster than a Stormer at maximum acceleration. _This isn't real. There's nothing behind you. There's nothing to fear_. He takes a small peak behind him and sees that the light is still there and appears to be gaining on him. _Okay, maybe not_.

Adam picks up his pace and runs blindly through the forest. He can't see where he's going but he doesn't care; he just wants to get away. However, his fear intensifies as he trips over a root he didn't see and falls flat on his face. His exhaustion has returned, he can't find the strength to get back up. He slowly turns to face the light and lifts up his left arm to block off the blinding light as he closes his eyes and braced himself for the worst.

"Adam? What are you doing here?"

Adam opened his eyes and lowered his arm as he looked at the speaker: it was Seth… on his Stormer… with his lights on. Erik was right behind him with his lights on as well. He looked around him and saw that everything was back to normal. The trees were as they should be and there was no sign of a mist anywhere.

Adam put on an embarrassed grin and put his arms behind his head as he laughed nervously. "Me? I'm not really doing anything here. Nothing at all. Nope. Not a thing. Absolutely nothing. Zippo, zero, zilch, nada. What are you guys doing here?"

"Ummm…" began Erik, "don't you remember? You warned us that we would get lost if we entered the Forsaken Woods but we decided to ignore you and got lost."

"We didn't get lost" said Seth. "We merely ended up taking the scenic route. Did you come to find us because we don't need any help because we were never lost." Seth stared suspiciously at Adam who had still made no attempt to get up.

"Look for you? Oh right, I was sent to look for you. You know, look around, see if I can find you. Stuff like that. The girls were worried that you would not make it and I volunteered to look for you guys because…"

"Where's your Stormer?" Erik looked around but couldn't see a Stormer. "You didn't walk here did you? Aren't you afraid of getting lost and being stuck here forever and ever and ever and…"

"No, no, no, no, Erik. I didn't take a Stormer because it would make it harder to find my way out and…."

Seth tuned out the sound of Adam's explanations as he stared at Adam's disheveled appearance. Although Erik could not have seen from behind him, he was certain that Adam was scared out of his wits only a few seconds ago. When he had spotted a running figure in the distance, he never thought it would be Adam. The way he had ran and the look of intense fear on his face when he turned to face him rang warning bells in Seth's head. The nervous rambling had also been a dead giveaway for how scared Adam was. He scanned his surroundings to see what could have scared him but saw nothing.

_What could possibly have scared him so badly_? Seth got off his bike and walked over to Adam. _Why hasn't he gotten up yet_? Seth then noticed that Adam was sweating like crazy and appeared to be shivering like mad. He reached down to grab Adam by the wrist as he said "come on, we better get going. No need to make the girls worry more than usually." The instance his hand touched Adam's wrist, however, he immediately withdrew it. _Shoot, his wrist is freezing cold. Wait, is Adam shaking from the cold? How can he be cold and sweating at the same time? Plus, it's not cold at all out here_. Seth face turned pale when he saw that he could see Adam's breath. _That is not right. It's not cold at all. I shouldn't be able to see his breath. We better take him to the village now_.

Seth was relieved as he saw Adam slowly get up on his own but it quickly left him when Adam knees suddenly gave up underneath him. He helped Adam to his feet, trying his best not to shudder at the cold his body was emitting. He walked Adam over to his Stormer before helping him get on.

"What's wrong with him Seth?"

"I don't know Erik but we better take him to the village and quick."

"But which way is the village?"

"I don't know but we…"

"It's that way" muttered Adam as he pointed just to the left of Erik.

"How can you be so certain?" said a confused Erik. "You have nothing to go by and we…"

"I don't know how, but I know it's in that direction. Just trust me." Adam looked at Erik with a small smile before he lost consciousness.

"So…. what are we going to do Seth?"

"We're going to head in the direction that he pointed."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's the only lead we got and I have a feeling that he's right." With that, the two Stormers disappeared into the darkness, towards the empty village and the mysterious shadow.

* * *

Seth and Erik parked their Stormers right beside the others and checked out the abandoned village. It was very dark out now and they could see that only one house had a light on. Erik picked Adam up and they walked over to the house.

Seth knocked on the door as he cried out "hello? Is there anybody home?"

The door swung open to reveal a happy Mel. "Seth! Erik! You're alright! Adam found you!" Her smile vanished, however, when she caught a glimpse of the unconscious Adam. "What's wrong with Adam?" she asked as she raced to him. She placed her hands on him and shivered. "He's so cold. We should bring him in so he can warm up."

"If he's so cold" said Kara as she walked up to them, "then why does it look like he's sweating?"

"Because he is" said Seth as he pushed his way into the house. "It doesn't matter why or how, all that matters is that he is."

"He must be sick" said Rion. "We should place him into a bed right away."

"Right" said Mel, "follow me. We'll place him in the nearest bedroom."

Seth looked around and asked "where's the people who live here?"

"We don't know" said Kara as she watched her brother take Adam upstairs. "We couldn't find anyone at all. The whole village has been deserted."

"But why?"

"We don't know Seth" said Rion as he closed the door. "But I'm certain that the people who lived here won't mind us using their home while they're gone."

Seth looked out the window with a suspicious face and said "are you certain there's nobody here? There must be someone here. Anyone would do." He looked over his shoulder and saw Rion and Kara shake their heads. "I see. Okay, we'll look for clues tomorrow morning to what happened to them or why they chose to abandon their homes. But for now, let's eat! I'm starved."

Kara giggled as Rion lead Seth to the kitchen where they had cooked up some food for themselves.

* * *

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" asked Mel as Erik placed Adam on the bed.

"I'm certain he'll be fine" said Erik as he scanned Adam with his gauntlet. "Hmm."

"Hmm? What's with the hmm? Is there something wrong? Is he terribly sick? Does he need immediate medical attention?"

"Actually, no" said a concerned Erik. "It's just that my findings are a bit strange. His energy levels are fine and his pulse is normal but his core temperature is off the roof and the air around him is cold."

"I don't understand. What's that mean?"

"It means that while the inside of his body is burning up in some sort of fever, the outside of his body is freezing cold. Don't ask me how because I don't have a clue."

"What can we do?"

"Nothing really. We'll just have to wait and see if it'll go away on its own. That's all we can do… for now." Erik sighed as he turned and left the room.

Mel watched Adam and felt a twinge of worry every time she saw his visible breath. _What's wrong with you Adam? Will you get better? You better_. Mel walked over to Adam and knelt down beside him. She stared in concern at Adam's face and began to move closer and closer to him. Her lips were mere millimeters from his lips when she suddenly….

"Mel! Aren't you coming?" yelled out Erik. Mel swiftly shot away from Adam as Erik peeked his head through the doorway. "I already told you, there is nothing we can do for him so let's talk to the others about what we're going to do tomorrow." Erik then noticed that Mel seemed a bit embarrassed and asked "is there something wrong? You seem a bit…. red."

"No! No," said Mel as she nervously scratched her right arm. "Nothing's wrong. Come, let's go see the others and tell them what you told me." She hurriedly brushed past Erik as she made a mad dash for the stairs.

Erik watched her go by before turning back to Adam. _What was that all about? Oh well, I guess I will never understand the ways of a wizard_. He took one more worried glance at Adam before shutting the door.

* * *

"I don't believe this! How can this be happening? And to me of all people. It's just not fair. It's just not fair."

"What's wrong Seth?" asked Mel as she and Erik entered the kitchen. Mel frowned as she saw Kara and Rion roll their eyes as Seth slumped in front of a bowl of stew.

"Oh my Vitus. Could it be true? There's food in front of Seth but he's not eating. Have you lost your appetite?" Erik picked up the spoon and placed some stew in his mouth as he said "mmmm… good. Blech!" Erik spat out the stew before turning to Kara and saying "this stew is cold! I mean really cold."

"Yeah we know" said Seth miserably. "Why do you think I'm so upset? I need my nourishment but I need it at least warm."

"So, you just have to heat it up" said Mel. "It's not that hard to do."

"Okay, okay," said Kara. "I'll heat it up…. again."

"Again? What do you mean again?"

"What she means" growled Seth "is that that stew has been reheated over and over again but it won't stay warm." Seth glared forward unknowingly at the object of his ire.

Shantra giggled happily at the delightful time she was having with the defenders. After continuously failing to find the mysterious person she saw earlier, she had given up and went to find the defenders. She found them in the only house with a light preparing to give Seth some stew. She had come up with a fun but simple game at that moment: she would place one of her fingers into Seth's stew which resulted in cold food. She found the look on Seth's face when he bit into the cold food amusing and the anger it cause was delightful. _He takes his food way too seriously_.

A big smile appeared on her face as she prepared for the next step of the game. With no food to cool down, she began to make faces in front of Seth just to keep herself entertained. She started with sticking out her tongue and putting her fingers into her ears. _This is a classic but still funny_. Then, she used her hands to pull down the edges of her face and tried to talk. She snickered inwardly at how funny her voice sounded.

Seth, unable to see Shantra, sat miserably on his seat as he waited for his stew to be reheated on the fire. He snuck a peek at Erik who had taken a seat beside him as he waited for his own stew to be heated up. _I hope his stew turns to ice_.

"So" began Seth "how's Adam? Will he be fine?"

"Adam?" Shantra stopped making faces as her eyes opened wide. "What's wrong with Adam? What happened to him? Where is he?"

"Umm… Adam appears to be okay" began Erik, "but he appears to be running a bad fever as well as a bad case of the chills. The best we can do is wait and see if he gets any better. If he gets worst, we'll have to find some sort of medical attention. Apart from that, we can't do anything."

"You can't do anything? That's not acceptable" cried out Shantra. "You must be able to do something, you big meanie." She became annoyed when she realized that no one could hear her and gingerly reached under her neckline to pull out a locket that was hidden there. _Maybe I should_….

"Which room did you place him in?" asked Seth as Kara placed his reheated stew in front of him. He smiled delightfully at the food and began to eat with gusto.

"We put him in the bedroom closest to the stairs, you know, just in case" said Erik as he eyed the stew placed in front of him. He dipped his finger into the stew and withdrew it while shouting "ow! That's hot!"

"Of course it's hot" said Kara. "It was just heated up a few seconds ago. Why would you think it wouldn't be hot?"

"Well, it just that you guys said that Seth's stew kept getting cold and I thought that…."

"That what? That I must have done something wrong in order to…"

"No! No! I thought that maybe it was… was…. I don't know, something else."

"Don't be silly Erik" said Mel as she sat down in front of Seth. She flinched slightly at how cold the seat seemed to be. _What is going on here_?

Seth had noticed the flinch and asked "something wrong, Mel?"

"No, no. There's nothing wrong. Nothing at all. Just, a little worried about Adam."

"You're not the only one girl" muttered Shantra as she walked towards the stairs. "You're not the only one."


	15. Nightmare Syndrome

I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters. I did however, come up with Aquinae, Deirdre, the Drevac Clan and Shantra and her sisters(except Karmi).

Chapter Fifteen: Nightmare Syndrome  


Mel looked around her nervously as she and Kara walked through the village. Although the village looked less creepy in the morning light than in the dark, she still didn't feel better about it. There was something in the air that didn't feel right and it left her on the edge. _We shouldn't have split up_ she thought.

When they had woken up that morning, the first thing they had done was check up Adam. A quick scan from Erik's gauntlet showed that Adam's temperature was more stable but that there was still something wrong with him. What it was uncertain but it didn't appear to be a threat to his current health so Seth had decided they should look for clues as to why the villager was abandoned. They had split into three groups: Erik would stay behind and watch over Adam, she and Kara would head one way, and Seth and Rion headed another. The plan had seemed fine at first but now Mel was having doubts about how smart it was.

* * *

"I'm starting to think that this wasn't such a good idea Seth" said Rion as he and Seth check out the north edge of the village. "I mean, we don't know why the villagers left, or if the reason they left is still here, and Adam is obviously seriously sick. We should…"

"Look Rion" said Seth irritably, "I know you're worried about Adam and the others and I know you're not trying to annoy me but I feel that this is the best course of action. We have to find out why this place is abandoned."

"I know, but we don't even know what we're looking for. How will we know when we find it?"

"We'll know when we found it when we find it. What's with this doubt of my plan all of the sudden anyway? You agreed with my idea earlier, why do you think there's something wrong with it now?"

"I don't know Seth. There's just something bothering me, that's all. I don't know what it is but…"

"There's nothing to worry about. Everything's going to be okay. Adam will get better, we'll collect all of the pieces of the Celestial Abyss and we'll destroy the Ethos. Nothing to it. Easy as pie." _Mmmmm… pie._

Rion stared strangely at Seth as he watched drool drip from the edge of his mouth. "Nothing to it, huh? Somehow, I think it's going to be a bit more difficult than that. After all, the key isn't working properly, remember?" He then noticed that Seth seemed to be caught in his own thoughts. "Hello, Seth! Rados to Seth! Come in Seth!" No response. Rion sighed and began to walk away and turned around to see if Seth was following. He was still standing there, lost in his thoughts.

Rion kept on walking while Seth stood there, thinking about a nice hot pie with its aroma wafting in the air. It beckoned to him, calling for him to come and enjoy its sweet and delicious filling. _Don't mind if I do._ He could almost imagine biting into it but than the image began to suddenly change. The scent became horrid and the pie turned into a nauseating green. Seth felt sick to his stomach and found himself emptying the contents of his stomach for real. _What was with that? How could I imagine food like that? What's wrong with me?_ He waited a while for his stomach to settle before looking up towards Rion only to find himself alone. "What? Wasn't Rion just here? What's going on?" Seth started to feel nervous and felt fear starting to build in him. _This couldn't possibly get worse._

"Aaaaaaaah!"

* * *

"Eeeeeeeeeek!"

Mel's eyes open wide at the sound of Kara's scream and turned back towards her. Nothing but darkness. _Darkness? But it's morning. The suns are out and everything…_ Mel looks to the sky and sees that the suns are black and dim. "Kara! Kara! Where are you, Kara?" No response. Mel feels despair and panic starting to build inside her, building up and ready to surge.

Mel can no longer handle and begins to run. The darkness becomes more intense, she can't even make out the buildings anymore. _Not that it would make a difference. There's no place to hide and no place to run._ Mel spots something in front of her. At first she can't make it out but when she realizes who it is, she is relieved and happy to see him. "Professor Alnar! What are you doing here?"

"Stop my child" says Alnar before Mel could reach him. "There is much to talk about and there is no time for our happy reunion. You must listen and question nothing that I say."

"Of course, Professor Alnar" said Mel as she began to squirm. _There's something here, but what? And why won't he face me?_ She waited patiently for her mentor's words of wisdom.

"Your future Mel" began Professor Alnar, "is all a lie from the very start…."

* * *

The shadowy figure smiled as he watched the plight of the defenders from an outpost that overlooked the village. He couldn't see the ones that were inside, but he was certain that they were suffering too. "It's almost too bad that they chose to come here. It would have been very nice of them to find the pieces of the Celestial Abyss for me, but I guess it can't be help. I'll have to do it the hard way. Just like the villagers, they will fall to despair, turn on each other and tear themselves to pieces. Everyone falls under the spell, unless they have proper protection…" The figure smiles a crooked smile as he looks at a single piece of glowing black rock in his left hand. "The proper protection indeed. I should enjoy this while it lasts."

* * *

Erik had been sitting in the room that Adam was sleeping in checking Adam's vitals when he had heard Kara's scream. _Kara!_ Erik got up and was ready to run out and find her when he remembered about Adam's condition. He took a brief glimpse at Adam's sleeping figure: _he's not going anywhere. He'll be okay, but my sister… she might be hurt or worse. I have to find her._

Shantra watched Erik leave the room and decided to creep closer to his bed. _I wonder if he's only pretending to be sleeping._

Erik, on the other hand, had just rushed down the stairs when he suddenly stopped._ Wait. What was that noise?_ He listened carefully and sure enough, there was the sound of scuffling feet coming from the living room. Cautiously he crept towards the doorway and peeked in. He couldn't see anything in the dark room. He took a deep breathe and prepared his gauntlet, just in case. "Heeyah!" he cried out as he jumped through the doorway ninja-style. "Hwah!" he cried as he looked to his right. "Yah!" he cried as he looked to his left. Nothing. _Well, I feel ridiculous_ he thought as he walked to the middle of the room with his right arm sheepishly on his head. He looked around the dark room, not noticing the shadow silently creeping up to him from a corner behind him. "Wait.Why is so dark in here? It's morning" He then noticed a strange hissing noise coming from behind and turned around.

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"

* * *

Shantra stared at Adam as he slept on the bed, cautious and slightly annoyed. She had heard Erik's strange shouts and his scream, which had alarmed her. But a quick look downstairs showed him running in circles screaming his head off. She saw nothing to be worried about and decided he was just playing a game by himself. _A weird and loud game_ she thought as she heard bangs and the occasional casting coming from downstairs. _Adam had better wake up soon. His friend is obviously very lonely. Maybe I should do something about this. Wait! I know. _

"Adam? Are you awake? Adam? Are you awake? Adam! Are you awake?! Adam!! Are you awake?!!" _He's not responding. Maybe I should try something different._

"Adam?" Poke, poke. "Are you awake?"

"Adam?" Poke, poke, poke. "Are you awake?"

"Adam?" Poke, poke, poke, poke. "Are you awake?"

"Adam!" Poke, poke, poke…. poke. "Are you awake?!"

_He's not responding at all. I guess there's only one thing I can do._

"Adam?" Pinch, pinch, pinch. "Are you awake?"

* * *

Mel stared in disbelief at Alnar's back as he rambled on and on about how everything was hopeless and was a lie. _This can't be happening. This can't be real. It must an illusion or a nightmare of some kind. Alnar would never say these things, not in a million years._ She glared at the false Alnar and prepared an attack. "Frost Blast!" Mel's eyes opened in disbelief as her stones fall onto the ground; they were as useless as a soaked towel.

"Hmmm?" Alnar turned around and saw her stones lying on the ground. "Oh, my dear child. Where you planning on attacking me? Your loving mentor?"

"You're not Professor Alnar!" A look of determination appeared on Mel's face as she prepared another attack. _My stones may be useless, but my wizard powers aren't_. Her eyes started glowing blue and she levitated as she said "Sum, Altas, Ogama, Yin, Sum!" An intense blast shot from her hands and headed straight towards the false Alnar. Mel smiled at her spell but it quickly dropped when Alnar deflected the attack to the side with his arm.

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy, my child? You obviously have no idea who you're messing with here." As soon as he was finished saying that, his body began to convulse and expand while he turned black. Mel's eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped as she watched the fake Alnar turn into a giant and horrible monster with spikes coming out of his arms. "But I think" said the creature in a rough voice, "it is time that you learned. The very hard way."

* * *

Kara looked frantically around her in the dark tunnel, hoping to catch a glance at it before it took her off guard again. _What is that thing, anyway?_ She hadn't gotten a good look at it, but something about the creature just frightens her. _I don't understand. I shouldn't be afraid. Why am I afraid?_ She took a big gulp and began to walk back towards where she lost saw it. _There's nothing to be afraid of. There's nothing to be afraid of._

A strange, nauseating scent attacked her nose and the air starting turning into a dark red hue. _This is soooo creepy._ The strange scent stung her eyes, making them water as she continued to move forward. In the distance, she could see a blurry shadow breathing slowly ahead of her, its bulk moving slightly with each breath. She felt fear begin to build in her again but she quashed it down as she approached the mysterious beast.

Suddenly, as if it just became aware of her, the beast rose and let out a piercing cry that hurt Kara's ears. She placed her hands over them for protection and felt the fear starting to overtake her again but she ignored it… she had to see what it was that she was so afraid of. She had to at all cost.

The creature turned to faced her and snapped its jaws shut. Kara heard a crunch noise and suddenly became aware that there was a strange liquid on the ground. She took another step forward and slipped on the substance. It was warm and sticky with clumps of dried material in it. She looked at her fingers… it was blood. _But whose?_ She looked up at the creature's mouth and her eyes opened wide at what she saw. It was Erik. His mangled body was in the creature's jaws. It opened its mouth again and let the corpse dropped to the ground in front of her.

"No. No. Nooooooo!"

* * *

Rion ran through the mists in confusion as tears fall freely from him. All around him, he could hear people screaming, begging for him to help them but… he couldn't see anything. Just the mist and the darkness. He searched frantically for the people in need but found nothing. _Their pain is too much. I can't help them. _ _But I can't leave them like this._ He saw something move at the corner of his eye. He turned and ran towards it, hoping to find out what was going on. He couldn't bear to hear the screams anymore; he wanted to help them, he wanted the screaming to stop. He spotted a figure up ahead and eagerly ran over towards it. The screams around him became more piercing, the begging became more desperate. He found their pain agonizing and felt like their screams were trying to tear apart his soul.

When he reached the figure, he saw that it was an old woman with a slight limp on her left leg. She looked coldly at Rion before hissing out, "why do you condemn them?"

"What?" He stared at the woman in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Whom do I condemn?"

"Are you deaf young man? Or is that you simply do not care? These poor people around you are asking for your help and you do not even try to offer the assistance they so desperately need. You condemn them, just like your ancestors condemned the poor souls that helped them. Shame on you lad, shame on you."

Rion's eyes opened wide before he cried out "I do not condemn them. I want to help them but I cannot find them."

"A likely story" hissed the woman distastefully. "You make such ridiculous excuses up to cover your own disregard for the lives of others." She slowly moved towards Rion with a look of displeasure on her old face.

"I… I… I do not look down on them. I truly wish to help them but I cannot find them. I… I... I… I want to help them." He looked at his hands and watched as his tears fell on them and rolled off. "Look" he said as he pointed to his tears. "Does this look like the face of someone who disregards the lives of others?"

"Crocodile tears mean nothing!" The woman was now up to his face and her cold eyes looked into Rion's. "You are hardly any different than you're cold-blooded ancestors. They left their allies to rot in the chaos that they brought and showed only indifference to their suffering. You will just like them. You will lead the Defenders to their doom and will care nothing for their fate."

"No" muttered Rion as he shook his head in despair. "No…." He collapsed to the ground and began to sob hysterically while the woman stood and glared at him.

* * *

_This cannot be happening. This so cannot be happening_ though Seth as he ran down the dark alley. _This can't be real. They can't be real_. He turned down a corner and pressed himself against the wall. He took a deep breathe and peeked around the corner. They were still there. They were moving quickly about in random directions like half-crazed cats, bashing into the walls and knocking down trees. Every once and awhile, they would let out a shriek and Seth would get a good view of their oversized super sharp incisors which he was certain could easily tear him to pieces. He quickly ducked back behind the corner, just in case one should look in his direction. He slowly slid down the wall and placed his hands on his head in despair.

"I hate giant squirrels."


End file.
